Our Kinda Life
by ThomasZoey3000
Summary: Following along after Our Kinda Trip, third series with Matthew Gagnon and Kaede Fuyou.
1. What a Wonderful Life!

Hello there loyal readers, I am proud to present the 3rd series to feature 'Matthew' and 'Kaede', (I love writing up stories about those). Now, this series isn't rated PG anymore as there will be some 'moments' where the characters swear and on occasion there will be some really 'cute' moments, I wish I could say more right now, but I don't want to say too much about it (at this very moment). Now, the date of this chapter is May 16th 2011, and strangly enough, I started this chapter on that very day. Now I was originally hoping to do this series after 'Our Kinda Trip' was completed, but it's taking a while for me to write up that series, so I decided to go ahead with this series, (don't worry, I'm still working on 'Our Kinda Trip'). Now before I present this episode, I would like to say that I dedicate this story to all my friends online and in real life, and now - here is the very first episode of the first season of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 1: What a Wonderful Life!**_

What can I say, except for the fact that my life is so darn sweet! In the early morning hours, I wake up when I hear my sweet beautiful wife yawn as she's getting up.

"Good morning my queen," I said to her.

"Good morning my king," Kaede said happily to me and gave me a kiss on the lips for less than a minute. After we were done kissing, Kaede grabbed a hold of a small blanket and wrapped it around herself, reason was because - she was naked! She wasn't naked alone, I was too since we slept naked together last night, (we sleep naked a couple of times during the week).

"Did you sleep well last night Kaede?" I asked her.

"I did, you know I always get a good night sleep with you Matthew."

"I'm happy to hear that."

Kaede walked over to the closet where some of our clothes were, the ones she has in the closet are mostly her dresses and sweaters. She then pulled out a light blue shirt, then she walked over to the dresser for the rest of her clothes.

"Is today the first day of your week off?" she asked me.

"Yep," I said happily, "why Kaede - would you like to go out with me today?"

"I would love to," she smiled, "and if it's okay with you, I was wondering if we could stop by that - ah, store where they sell - ah, lingerie. Could we go there?" She was blushing a small shade of red as she asked that.

"Of course we can go there Kaede," I said happily.

"You don't mind?"

"Nah, I don't mind at all," I smiled.

"Okay," she smiled as she pulled out a pair of dark yellow shorts. She then brought out grey socks, and a pink bra and pink panties.

Now originally when Kaede and I were a couple over nine months ago, we used to get changed in different rooms, but ever since we got married, Kaede and I stay in the same room as we get changed.

Anyways, after Kaede had gotten her clothes out, I went over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of boxer shorts, dark blue jeans, my train belt buckle, white socks and a light blue T-Shirt.

After a few minutes of changing into our clothes, Kaede and I went downstairs to get started on breakfast.

Within a few hours, we were sitting at the kitchen table and enjoying another wonderful breakfast. Of course, Daisy (my little sister), Naomi (our Little Sis) and Primula (Rimu as some people call her) were already in their school uniforms.

"Ah Matt," Daisy said to me, "I'm going to be a little late getting home tonight, Monty and I are going over to the megamall for a while."

"Okay Daisy," I said happily to my little sister.

"I'm also going to be late getting home tonight," said Primula, "I'm going to be visiting Max after school, as I told you last night, he does have a bad cold."

"Yeah we remember you saying that," said Naomi.

"I think that's a sweet idea Rimu," Kaede smiled happily.

"And what about our two lovebirds?" Naomi asked in a cheeky way, "what are you two up to?"

"We're going out today," I told her, "we don't know when we're going to be coming in, so you might be on your own until we return. Just don't throw any parties okay?"

"I got it," she muttered quietly.

After we were done eating, Daisy and I worked together in cleaning up the dishes, then once we were done, she went to join Primula and Naomi at the front door. Today however, they weren't alone - as Monty was there too.

"Hey Monty," Daisy said in a kind way, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you of course," he said while blushing a bit, "and I was wondering if we could...hold hands on the way to school."

"Of course we can," Daisy said happily as she held out her left hand, Monty then grabbed it softly with his right hand - just watching those two reminds both Kaede and I of the days when we used to ask each other if we could hold hands, nowadays we don't need to ask at all.

"Have a good day you four," Kaede called out to them.

"We will," they all said, then they headed out on their way out the door, down the pathway and out to the street. They waved to us until they were out of sight.

In about thirty minutes, Kaede and I were at that store she was talking about. I tell you, the first time we went there together, Kaede was blushing a deep shade of red, and worried that I was upset for coming to a place like this with her, but she was relieved to know that I wasn't mad at her, (I never do get mad at her) and ever since then, she doesn't worry about that anymore.

Anyways, she searched throughout the store until she found seven pieces of Lingerie that she really liked.

"Do you mind if I try these on?" she asked me.

"I don't mind if you try those on," I said kindly to her.

"Okay," she then walked off to the changing area of the store.

While I waited for Kaede to come out, I heard a familar voice from another part of the store, "What do you think of this one Rin?" that voice belonged to the green haired girl, Asa Shigure, girlfriend to Rin.

"It's a little too revealing," he said in a shy way.

"Rin, that's the whole point of lingerie, now tell me - do you like it?"

"No," he answered.

Asa groaned loudly and walked off to the changing area again. Rin groaned for a bit, "I don't know how Asa managed to talk me into coming here with her."

"Maybe that's because she wanted a guy's opinion," I called out to him.

Rin jumped and turned around to see me standing close by, "Matthew? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here with Kaede..." just as I said her name, I saw her walking over towards me while wearing a piece of lingerie in light blue.

"What do you think Matthew?"

"Well, I think it's very cute on a really cute girl like you," I said while blushing. Kaede was also blushing at this time too.

"I'm glad you like it, cause I like it too, I'm just going to try on a couple more than we can go okay?"

"Okay," I said. Kaede then walked off back to the changing area to try on another piece of lingerie. I looked back over to Rin and noticed that he was talking to Asa again - only she didn't look too happy, my guess was that Rin must've said the same thing from before cause the next thing I knew, Asa was walking off back to the changing area.

"Rin, what the heck did you say to her?"

"I just said that I didn't like the piece of lingerie she was wearing."

"And how many times have you been saying that?"

"For every piece she's tried on."

"Dammit Rin, what the hell is your problem? Lingerie is suppose to be a little revealing and for crying out loud, quit saying no all the time!"

I walked off back to the spot I was standing at before, just as Kaede came out wearing another piece of lingerie in red, it looked really cute on her and I even said so.

"Okay, I'll get this one too okay?"

"Okay Kaede," I said as she walked off to get changed again.

I looked back to where Rin was, Asa was going to ask him if he liked what she was wearing - I could tell that he was going to say 'no' again. I shot him an angry look and reminded him of what I told him before.

"Well, do you like it?" Asa asked him again.

"Ah...yeah, it looks great on you."

"Finally!" she smiled, "I knew I'd find something sexy that you like, I'll go get this one!" And with that said, she ran off back to the changing area.

"Finally Rin," I said sarcastically, "at least you made her happy."

Rin didn't say anything, in fact he reminded quiet for quite a while until it was time to go.

"It took almost twenty minutes," Asa was saying to Kaede after we left the store, "but I finally found something that Rin and I like. I cannot wait to show him. So Kaede, how many pieces of lingerie did you get?"

"I got seven," she said quietly.

"SEVEN?" Asa exclaimed, "you got seven pieces of lingerie?"

"That's right," she said.

Asa then chuckled, "I seem to remember that one time when we went shopping for Rimu and you passed out more than a few times when she wore something a little too revealing."

"Well, that was then and this is now, I like wearing lingerie, especially when Matthew gets to see me wearing it."

"You're a lucky girl Kaede - I wish I could show Rin what I got today, but so far, he hasn't invited me to come spend the night with him - not even to sleep with him for a night."

"Really?"

"Yes - well, I would like to stay and chat some more, but I did promise Rin that we could go where he wanted to go. I'll see you later."

And with that, she ran off to catch up with Rin.

"I sometimes wonder what the heck is the matter with Rin," I said out loud.

Normally Kaede would ask me what I meant by that, but I think this time she knew what I meant.

"Anyhow, where would you like to go next Kaede?"

"Well, maybe we could walk around the mall for a bit."

"Which one? The Megamall or the smaller one?"

"The smaller one," she answered sweetly.

She then held out her right hand and I grabbed it softly with my left hand, then we walked along to the mall, smiling and blushing throughout that time.

In a couple of hours, we were sitting outside of an ice cream shop and enjoying some strawberry ice cream cones.

"Are you having a good time so far?" I asked her.

"Of course I am, I always have a good time with you Matthew."

"I'm happy to hear that, Kaede, cause I'm having a good time too."

After we were done eating our ice cream, Kaede and I started walking around the mall, and like before, we were holding hands. We soon came upon a small book store in the store, "Kaede, would it be okay if we go in for a couple of minutes?"

"Of course it's okay," she said happily.

That's another reason why I love Kaede, she doesn't mind where we go - as long as we are together.

Anyways, we walked inside and looked around at some of the books in the store. Kaede found a new cookbook, while I found another manga book, which was brand new, it's called 'Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura' as written by: 'Arina Tanemura'. Both Naomi and I love reading the books she brings out, I guess you could say that we are huge fans of her books.

After we bought the books, we headed out, only to _almost_ run into Itsuki and Mayumi.

"Hey you two," said Mayumi happily, "how's our favourite married couple?"

"We're okay," Kaede and I answered in unison, sometimes we do that.

"Don't you usually have to work during the week Matthew?" Itsuki asked me.

"Normally yes, but Mr. Quinten was kind enough to give me the week off."

"That was nice of him," said Mayumi, "and I think you deserve a week off considering that you have been working hard lately, and you haven't taken a single week off in months."

If you guys have forgotten what I do, I work on a television show called 'Tech Corner'.

"And what you two up to today?" Kaede asked.

"We're...on another date," said Mayumi.

"That's so sweet, wouldn't you agree with me Matthew?"

"Yep, I agree with you Kaede," I said in agreement.

Mayumi looked up to Itsuki with a huge smile on her face, it's almost hard to believe that over a year ago that those two were rivals and always fighting each other, or on occasion, Mayumi would smack the crap out of Itsuki when he insulted her about being a flat chested girl.

"So Itsuki, are you still pounding the crap out of those who insult Mayumi?"

"Hell yeah," he answered, "if any boy ever says anything bad to my Mayumi, I teach them a lesson they won't forget."

"And I'm grateful for that," Mayumi smiled as she grabbed onto Itsuki's left hand. She started to blush a small shade of red and so did Itsuki. They said their goodbyes to us and walked off for another part of the mall, while Kaede and I continued on.

"And to think people used to say that those two would never be a couple," I said to Kaede.

"Actually, they've said worse things about Mayumi - some people used to say that she would never find a boyfriend."

"What? That can't be true right?"

"It's all true, I remember hearing that alot when I was in school."

I had to chuckle then, "let me guess, did Mayumi used to pound the snot out of those guys everytime?"

"You guessed right," she answered, "but I still can't understand why those boys would say those horrible things to her."

"It's a mystery I know, but I don't think we need to worry about that anymore, and Mayumi doesn't need to either, especially with Itsuki by her side." Kaede couldn't help but giggle.

After another hour and a half, Kaede and I walked over to the food court to get something to eat. I was looking around to see what we could get - and as you can guess, I ran into someone - quite literally.

"Oh come on," I groaned, "how many times am I going to run into someone like this."

"Yeah this is a bad habit of yours," said another voice.

I looked to see who I had bumped into - it my childhood friend Michael.

"Sorry Michael, I didn't mean to run into you like that."

"Nah that's okay Matthew," he said, "these things happen from time to time - although," he added with a chuckle, "this is actually you and I got reunited that day, remember?"

"How could I forget?" I chuckled.

Kaede ran over to see if I was okay, I told her of course that I was and Michael said the same thing, then we both got back up to our feet.

"Sorry again about that, buddy," I said to Michael, "I really wish I could get rid of this habit of mine."

"I wouldn't say that, Matthew," he said to me, "without that habit of yours, you would never have known I moved here over a year ago, and from the many stories I have heard, you've met a lot of people by 'bumping' into them."

"I guess that's true," I chuckled quietly, "so Michael, what are you doing here today?"

"Well, I'm going to get something very special for the girl I love - a special pink diamond bracelet, do you think she'll like it?"

"I think she might," I said, "What do you think Kaede?"

"I think she'll love it," she smiled, "especially when it's coming from you Michael."

In case you don't know, Michael's girlfriend happens to be our friend 'Sakura Yae'. She and Michael became a couple sometime after our big trip started last October.

"Yeah, you guys are right," he smiled, "Well I better get going, I'll see you two later!"

"See you later Michael!" Kaede and I called in unison again. We looked to each other a little surprised, then we started to chuckle a little.

"I guess great minds do think alike," Kaede said happily.

"That's true," I smiled.

Kaede and I decided to have small bowls of spagetti with meat sauce and a couple of meatballs on top of the spagetti. Even though we bought two bowls, Kaede and I did share some pieces of spagetti and like in that Disney movie 'Lady and the Tramp', Kaede and I ended up kissing when we did share a piece of spagetti.

"How romantic," said one of the costumers who walked past.

Kaede and I didn't mind if people saw us kiss, as long as we were together. Hey, if you love someone alot, then wouldn't you and your one true love kiss alot?

After we left the mall, Kaede and I went over to the local arcade to play some games together, like the claw machine or Air Hockey. Kaede nearly beat me, cause the score was 9-10.

"You're better everytime Kaede," I said to her.

"Do you really think so?" she asked me.

"Of course," I smiled.

Kaede smiled once again and blushed a small shade of red. Kaede and I played some of the other games in the arcade for an hour, which also included a bowling game. Of course as you can guess, I got the highest score - again!

By the time we were ready to go, Kaede had three stuffed animals in her arms, she won two of them while I won the third one for her.

We stayed out until around four in the afternoon, when we got home, we met up with Daryl.

"Hey buddy," I called to him, "what are you up to?"

Before Daryl could answer, Kaede spoke up, "are you going to give her those flowers?"

Daryl had been a bunch of flowers behind his back, they were all roses, "yeah, I'm going to give these to her," he answered as he showed them to us, "I hope she'll like these flowers."

"I love them," said a voice from behind him.

Daryl turned around in shock as he didn't hear her come up behind him, (for once somebody wasn't sneaking up behind me like they usually did before), the owner of that voice was - Nerine!

"Oh hi Nerine," said Daryl, "I...I...I was going to surprise you with these flowers I got for you..."

"Oh Daryl," she said happily as he gave them to her, "They're lovely, thank you so much."

"You're welcome Nerine."

Those two were quiet for a few minutes, then Nerine walked towards Daryl and gave him a hug, then he hugged her back. Kaede and I stood in silence, but we were happy for the two of them. We didn't want to ruin their moment together, so we both walked off for the house.

"Those two should get a room," Naomi giggled, she could see Nerine and Daryl hugging. She went quiet though when I _literally_ dragged the little red haired girl back inside the house.

Primula called us an hour later to let us know that she was going to be having dinner at Max's house, and said she would come home after that.

Tonight, Daisy and I worked with Kaede to make the dinner, while Naomi stayed in the living room, she was reading my new manga book, I said that she could read it as long as she gave it back afterwords.

The dinner was indeed delicous as always, and after we were done eating, Daisy, Naomi and I helped Kaede wash the dishes. We finished within ten minutes, amazing what teamwork can do, wouldn't you agree with me?

Primula came home ten minutes after we finished cleaning the dishes and told us, "Max is okay, he just needs one more day and he'll be back to his old self again."

At around nine thirty that night, I was online again and talking with my friends on the Sodor Island Forums, I told them all about my day out with Kaede, while she got changed.

"Sounds like you two had a grand time out today," said Sierracat27's message, "But of course, you two always have a good time together, from what you always say to us."

"You didn't get hurt when you bumped into Michael again did you?" Warrior's message read.

"Nah, I'm okay - I'm tougher than I look."

"That's true," he replied back.

I talked with my friends for quite a while until I logged off.

"Matthew," Kaede called soft and sweetly to me. I turned around and looked - Kaede was wearing a piece of lingerie that was in light blue (this is one of the many pieces she bought earlier today), "What do you think, looks better than when I was wearing this before right?"

"Ah...yeah," I said while smiling and blushing at the same time.

After I shut down my computer, I climbed into bed, took off my shirt, then Kaede came over and layed down on top of me. Our lips came closer and closer to each other - then we kissed again.

"I love you Matthew."

"And I love you too Kaede."

We were quiet for a while (just for the record, Kaede shut off the lights before she climbed into bed), then we said our good nights to each other.

"I'll see you in the morning."

"And I'll see you in the morning," I said winking at her. She giggled just like she always does, then she placed her head on my chest, closed her eyes and went to sleep. I rubbed her back gently for a few seconds, then I closed my eyes and went off happily to sleep.


	2. Love Who You Love

Oh boy am I on a role here! This next episode gives some of the other characters a moment in the spotlight, as well as some more moments with 'Matthew' and 'Kaede'. Now as you recalled in the last episode, I did say that this series is no longer PG rated, for there is some swearing included. Also note that the title of this episode was inspired by the song from 'Rascal Flatts', also included is the story of Matthew's purposal to Kaede, it's a little different from the crossover (A Powerful Friendship)'s story, but still I hope you'll enjoy it. The date of this chapter starts on May 17th 2011 and now, here is episode 2.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 2: Love Who You Love**_

The following next morning, my alarm clock went off - I got to it first this time. Kaede slept for another minute and a half before she finally woke up, she let a big yawn, then she opened her sleepy eyes and looked up to see me smiling at her.

"Good morning Kaede," I said in a sweet way.

"Good morning Matthew," she then moved up a bit and kissed me on the lips for a minute and a half. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"I did, especially since I'm here with you."

Kaede blushed once again - we didn't move for an entire minute, we just stared into each other's eyes. After that minute, Kaede got up from the bed and walked over to the closet to get her white shirt that goes along with her black skirt. Then she walked over to the dresser to get the rest of her clothes.

I then got up and got my clothes that I was going to wear that day, then after we got changed into our clothes, we headed off downstairs to start making breakfast.

For today, Asa and Kaede were going to be teaching some new recipes to Sia, Nerine and Kikyou. These are some of the recipes that Kaede found in that new cooking book she got yesterday.

As for me, I was hanging out with 'the guys' at Michael's house. Besides just Michael and myself, there was Dave, Daryl, Rin, Ryan and Patrick (in case you guys haven't heard, Patrick and Ryan are my friends once again, I only wish I could say the same about Jeff and Connor).

Anyways, we were all taking turns in playing the 'Halo 3' video game. As you guess, I beat them everytime.

"Ah come on Matthew, how do you keep beating us?" Michael asked in shock.

"Need you ask? It comes from years of practise - and playing the game over and over again helps too."

"And plus we taught you how to play the game," said Patrick sarcastically.

"And you taught me how to play the game," I said in agreement, "but you guys only taught me how to play the first Halo game, remember?"

"You don't need to keep reminding us," Ryan groaned as he tried to beat my character, but he didn't beat me.

"Okay then, why don't we talk about our girlfriends - or in my case, wives," I looked back to Dave, "how's your relationship with Sia?"

"It's okay, but Kikyou is still giving me the evil look - come to think of it, so is her father. I don't know why really, did I do something to upset them?"

"Mostly being with Sia," Rin answered quietly, "as you know, both Sia and Nerine were trying to be my girlfriend and..."

"You might say that it started a little war between the kings and the two princesses," I interupted, "I think the kings and Kikyou don't approve of Dave's relationship with Sia or Daryl's relationship with Nerine."

"Why's that?" Patrick asked.

"That's one question I can't answer."

"Well I don't care what they think of me," said Dave, "I love Sia and that's that."

"Well spoken," said Michael, "I wouldn't care if someone told me that I'm not allowed to be with Sakura, we love each other and that's all that counts."

"Well said Michael," I said in agreement as I beat his character again, then I looked over to Ryan, "and what about you buddy, how's your girlfriend?"

"Emily's doing great," Ryan answered, then he went back to focusing on the video game.

"And Patrick, have you got a girlfriend yet?"

"Nope, not yet," he answered, "but don't worry, I'll get a girlfriend soon."

"I think you're the only one out of all of us who doesn't have a girlfriend," said Daryl, trying hard not to be insulting. "Come to think of it, I think Matthew's the only one out of all of us who sleeps with the girl he loves."

"Not true," said Michael out loud, but then went quiet.

We all looked at him a little surprised, for some reason I don't understand why, Rin walked out of the room.

"Michael," Dave spoke up, "are you trying to tell us that...you've slept with Sakura?"

"Maybe," he said while blushing a small shade of red, "promise me that you won't tell anyone else," we all promised at the same time. "Okay, well - the first time we slept together was when we were in New Liskard, then again just last Friday. Sakura was feeling tired after a long day at 'Tech Corner', so I told her that she could spend the night here. At first, I thought she was going to sleep on the couch, but then she asked me if we could sleep together - and well...the rest you guys can guess."

We were quiet for a while, that was until I spoke up, "yeah we can guess. Way to go buddy."

"Thanks," he said while blushing a deeper shade of red, then he looked to the chair Rin had been sitting in, only to find it was empty, "it's strange isn't it, everytime we bring up a conversation like this, Rin takes off."

"I went to get a soda," he said as he came back in.

"Michael does have a good point though," said Ryan, "everytime we bring up a conversation about our girlfriends - or wives in Matthew's case, you always leave the room."

"Not always," Rin objected, "I stick around to listen."

"I have to agree with Ryan and Michael on this one," I said, "you do walk out whenever you talk about the girls." Rin didn't say anything for quite a while, in fact, he didn't say anything throughout the rest of the morning and into the afternoon.

We hung out till around four when we headed off to our places. The very moment I got inside, I was greeted by Kaede, "Hi Matthew," she said sweetly.

"Hi Kaede, how was your day?"

"It was okay - but I missed you," she then walked up to me and gave me a kiss on the lips. I wrapped my arms around her and held her really close to me (just for the record, Kaede has to stand up on her toes in order to reach my height).

"I really missed you too honey."

Kaede looked up at me in a strange way, "did you just call me honey?"

"Oh, ah...maybe."

Kaede giggled a little, "that's okay Matthew, I don't mind if you call me that - I think it's kinda cute."

"Well okay...hey wait a minute, since when do you say 'kinda'?"

"Ah..."

"That's okay Kaede, I don't mind if you say that," as I was saying this, I gave Kaede another hug. We stayed there in the hallway for a while, then we walked off to the living room. I layed down on the couch first with my head resting on the arm rest, then Kaede layed down on top of me with her head resting on my chest.

"We learned alot of new recipes today, although - Nerne did mess up every now and then," she then giggled.

"Yeah that sounds like Nerine all right," I chuckled. I then placed my right hand on her back, then I started rubbing the back of her head, her hair is so smooth and soft too. "So, where are our sisters?"

"Naomi's upstairs reading a few manga books, Daisy is out on another date with Monty, and Rimu is visiting Max again."

"How is that little guy anyways?"

"Max is okay, he's getting over his cold - you know the one thing Rimu said to me before she went off to Max? She said that as soon as he's better, she's going to give him a kiss."

"Aww, that's so sweet of her."

We then went quiet as we watched 'Kanon' (the 2006 version).

"Hey Matthew, do you often think about - when you purposed to me?"

"Of course I do," I smiled as I continued to rub her back, "why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering - because that was one of the most beautiful moments of my life."

"Yeah, I have to agree with you."

For all of you who don't know the story, it was during the time that Kaede and I were in Strasburg Pennsylvania (August 2010). We were riding on one of the steam passenger trains one day behind their steam locomotive '#90', the day was nice and sunny too. The day before I had gotten a special diamond ring for Kaede and that day, I was going to purpose to her.

"Are you having a good time so far Kaede?"

"I am Matthew, I'm having a great time with you."

I smiled as I held onto Kaede's sweet right hand. Oh boy was I ever blushing at that time, and so was she come to think of it. As we reached the halfway point of the train ride, I knew that was the moment I was going to ask her.

"Kaede, um - ever since we first met, have you been happy, you know - being with me?"

"Of course I have, you are the sweetest and kindest boy I've ever met, you always listen to me and you're always there to cheer me up. I love you so much."

"And I love you too Kaede, you're always there for me, you always listen to me - you're my best friend Kaede - and I would like to spend forever with you," Kaede looked at me with a surprised look.

I then got up from my seat, then I got down on one knee, right in front of Kaede. I then pulled out the box and held it out, "Kaede Fuyou, will you - marry me?"

Kaede gasped when she saw that ring, then (while she had some tears in her eyes), she said, "Matthew, I want to spend forever with you too - my answer is...yes! Yes I will marry you!"

As soon as we got to our feet, Kaede and I hugged each other, then we kissed - while all the other passengers in that coach, and even our own conductor cheered for us.

"And then we got married on September 27th, just one year after we shared our first kiss," Kaede added.

"Yeah," I said.

Kaede got up and moved up till she and I were face to face, quite literally. We would've kissed - had it not been for a certain little red headed girl named Naomi, "get a room you two!"

We looked to see Naomi looking at us.

"How long have you been standing there Naomi," Kaede asked nervously.

"Just for a minute," she answered, "I'm bored."

"Well if you're bored, why don't you call Shiori and ask if you two can hang out together?"

"I tried that already, but she and Yukie are hanging out today..."

"So much for our little romantic moment," I sighed.

"Wouldn't the first time," Kaede giggled.

It was true, Naomi used to bug us alot after we got back from our trip, it wasn't to annoy us or say that she didn't want us to get married, it was just who she was.

So, Kaede, Naomi and I played some video games for a while until Daisy and Primula came home at around six at around the time we had dinner.

The next day, Kaede and I were out and about again, just walking around through the city. Today, she was wearing a beautiful nearly white dress, she wore a cross around her neck and she wore shoes that showed her feet, namely strapped shoes. As for me, I wore my dark green T-Shirt with a Pennsylvania Railroad K4 steam locomotive on it, followed by my dark blue jeans, white socks and almost worn out running shoes.

"Is there anywhere specific you like to go to today?" I asked.

"Nope," she answered, "I just want to walk around with you and enjoy the sights, would that be okay?"

"Of course it is my love," Kaede blushed when she heard that, then she held out her left hand and I grabbed it softly with my right hand.

We walked along throughout the city's main business distract, that was until we came upon a toy hobby shop that sold model trains.

"We could go in if you want to," Kaede said kindly.

"You really want to go in?"

"Yes."

I kindly held the door open for Kaede as she walked inside first, then I walked in right behind her. We looked at everything in the shop, from model ships, model planes and of course, the model trains. There was even a small train set in there.

"Pretty impressive huh Kaede?"

"It sure is - you used to have a model train set when you were a kid right?"

"That's right, it actually took up the entire room - but my parents wanted to use that room for our guests, so they torn the whole thing down, I really wish they didn't - I spent most of my childhood either building or playing with the train set," I sighed as we watched a freight train pass us on the layout, "I put seven years of work into that layout and within three hours, my parents had destoyed it to pieces."

"That was mean of them."

"Yeah it was. That train set brought me plenty of happiness, and just for the record, this was long before I met you Kaede, whenever I had a bad day at school or anywhere, I would go upstairs and play with those trains - but after it was gone, I was back to being miserable, that was..."

"Until we met."

"That's right Kaede," I then gave her a kiss on the right side of her face.

We then continued looking around, until we came across an interesting item, "do you that type of engine Matthew?"

"I sure do, that's a Southern Pacific Daylight locomotive, an engine with four wheels up at the front, eight driving wheels and four back wheels, making it a northern type engine."

"Would you like to have one of those?"

"Are you sure Kaede?"

"I'm quite sure," she smiled to me.

"Okay," I smiled back. And that's what we did, we bought that model of the Daylight engine, and to be truthful here, the engine's number was '4449', the same number of the operating SP Daylight engine in the states, and we also got a 'Model Railroader' magazine.

We then walked through the Megamall again, reason why it's called that is because the damn thing is so huge, five levels and lots of stores, it usually takes about three and a half hours just to walk through the entire mall.

We ate out at the Boston Pizza today, and as usual, we had the smokey mountain spagetti and meatballs.

"Same as always huh Matthew?" asked another voice.

That voice belonged to our waitress, who happens to have been my first girlfriend, Leah Clarks.

"Yeah same as always," I chuckled.

"How are you doing Leah?" Kaede asked.

"I'm doing okay, I've been well ever since my last operation - I guess you could say that I'm almost back to the way I was before that accident many years ago."

"That's good to hear," I smiled.

"Thanks Matthew, anyways...I'll go get your meals."

Originally, Leah used to live in Stouffville Ontario, Canada, but like my friends, Ryan, Emily and Patrick, she too moved to Tokyo to become a waitress and maybe to one day run her own resturant.

After about seventeen minutes, our meals were brought out.

"Enjoy," Leah said kindly.

"Thank you," Kaede and I said in unison. We did enjoy eating the spagetti and meatballs, in fact, we ate everything that was on the plates.

"That was good wasn't it?" I asked, Kaede nodded happily. "I remember when I first moved here, when we came to this very 'Boston Pizza', you said the spagetti and meatballs were a little hot..."

"Yeah I remember, and you told me it would take a while for me to get used to it, and I have."

"Yeah, it's like me getting used to finally sitting on my knees, remember when I used to say that?"

"Yes," she giggled, "I remember that, and now you're used to it, right?"

"Right."

And just like on my second day after I moved in with Kaede, I payed the bill for both of our meals.

We then spent a few more hours walking threw the megamall till around four. We were resting near the front of the megamall, sitting side by side on the bench.

"Matthew, there's something I want to talk to you about..."

"And what would that be my dear sweet Kaede?"

"Well," she said while blushing, "it's about a dream I had last night, I dreamed that I was back in high school, and this was around the time that Sia and Nerine arrived, there was only one difference though..."

"And what would that be?" I knew what it was, but I felt it was best to let Kaede say it.

"Well, in my dream, Rin wasn't living me, the boy that was living with me - was you...and we were in love."

"Really?" I asked sounding curious.

"Yes, and in the dream, you called me the girl of your dreams, and you weren't afraid to fight for me."

"Sounds a lot like our lives nowadays," I said happily, "it sure likes an amazing dream. Tell me though, am I all you dream about?"

Kaede blushed a deeper shade of red, "yes I do dream about you all the time. I guess it's because I love you so much, you are my one true love, the person I can spend forever with."

"And I feel the same way about you Kaede...my best friend and my sweet wonderful wife too."

Kaede and I were quiet for a few seconds, then with our eyes locked, we kissed on the lips for a couple of minutes, and like I said before, I don't care if other people can see us kiss, I'm just happy to be with Kaede.

"That's so cute," said another voice from behind us.

Kaede and I had just finished kissing at that moment, we then looked to see the owner of that voice - it was Sia, and she wasn't alone, as Dave was with her.

"Hey you two," I said, "what are you up to today?"

"We're out on another date," Sia answered, "to tell you the truth, I prefer to be with Dave than my father and sister, they are driving me nuts."

"I know the feeling," I muttered quietly, then I spoke to Dave, "so how was work at the computer labs today?"

"It was busy as usual," he answered, "I think my boss is starting to regret giving Daryl and I the day off yesterday. Without us in the labs, the workload started to fall behind."

"It can happen from time to time," I said in agreement, "Well, we hope you two have a good time out today."

"We will," they said in unison and walked off to begin their walk around through the megamall.

"They're just like us," I said to Kaede, who nodded happily in agreement. After they were out of sight, Kaede and I grabbed the bags of stuff we got today, then we headed off for home.

In a few hours, we had another wonderful dinner, then Daisy and I helped to wash the dishes. We then spent a few hours just watching some of our favourite shows like 'Disorderly Conduct', and 'Mermaid Melody' on the anime channel, (yes, we do get an anime channel).

At around nine thirty that night, I was talking with my friends online for a bit about the day out.

"Kaede has dreams about you?" Jamesfan's message asked.

"Yes she does," I answered back.

"It's no surprise really," Warrior's message read with a chuckle included, "still I have to know, do _you_ dream of Kaede every night?"

"Of course I do, I only ever dream about Kaede and the time we spend together. The only time the dreams were different were before that knucklehead attack."

"I have a quick question to ask you Matthew," came Anime Boy's message, "from what we do know about Kaede, she did attack Asa one time long before you moved in with her, so why didn't she fight back aganist the knuckleheads?"

"Kaede simply doesn't want to hurt anyone, no matter who it is, plus - she made a promise to herself that she would never fight, unless she has no choice."

"Like you?"

"Excatly."

After talking with my friends for a while, I looked at the Episode Adaptations thread for a while, then I logged off and shut down my computer. At this time, Kaede came into the room, wearing only a housecoat.

"Would you like to sleep...naked with me again?" she asked me while blushing.

"You don't even need to ask," I smiled, "you know my answer is yes."

So once we were undressed, I got into bed first, then Kaede climbed in and layed down on top of me.

"Hey Kaede," I whispered to her, "would you like to hear me sing you a song before we go to sleep?"

"Yes please," she smiled.

"Okay then," I reached over to the book shelves for my Ipod, then I gave one end of my earphones to Kaede while I took the other one. I searched threw the list until I found the perfect song to sing. It's called "Let's Go Higher" by "Johnny Reid".

_ You know me_

_ Better than I know myself_

_ You see me_

_ Different than everybody else_

_ Just When I feel I reached the moon_

_ You look at me and say,_

_ Let's go higher!_

_ Let's Go Higher!_

_ You say 'baby don't look down, look at what we found'_

_ And Let's Go Higher!_

_ Let's Go higher!_

_ You show me_

_ There is always something more_

_ You take me_

_ Where I've never been before_

_ Just When I feel I reached the moon_

_ You look at me and say,_

_ Let's go higher!_

_ Let's Go Higher!_

_ You say 'baby don't look down, look at what we found'_

_ And Let's Go Higher!_

_ Let's Go higher!_

_ You make me believe love is all we'll ever need_

_ Just When I feel I reached the moon_

_ You look at me and say,_

_ Let's go higher!_

_ Let's Go Higher!_

_ You say 'baby don't look down, look at what we found'_

_ And Let's Go Higher!_

_ Let's Go higher!_

_ Just When I feel I reached the moon_

_ You look at me and say,_

_ Let's go higher!_

_ Let's Go Higher!_

_ You say 'baby don't look down, look at what we found'_

_ And Let's Go Higher!_

_ Let's Go higher!_

When I finished, I looked down to Kaede, she was smiling at me once again.

"That was wonderful Matthew," she said to me, then she moved up a bit and kissed me on the lips for a minute and a half. After the kiss, she moved down a bit till her head was resting on my chest.

"Good night Matthew, I love you."

"Good night Kaede, I love you too," I winked at her once again and of course she giggled. Then we both closed our eyes at the same time and went happily to sleep, dreaming about being with each other.


	3. Party Night

Oh boy am I ever on a roll here! In this episode of 'Our Kinda Life', I try to get the many couples included in this story, as well as bringing back some of the other characters that haven't been mentioned lately in the last two episodes, and like before, there is some swearing included and some 'cute' moments once again. And now, here's the third episode of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 3: Party Night**_

It was now seven O'Clock A.M. on May 19th, Kaede was still sleeping at this time, but I woke up as soon as the sun's rays shone threw the window.

"She looks so cute and beautiful," I thought to myself. I ran my fingers threw her hair, it was so soft and smooth too. As I was feeling her hair, she woke up and looked up to me.

"Good morning Matthew."

"Good morning Kaede."

Kaede moved up a bit, then she and I kissed on the lips for two and a half minutes. After the kiss, Kaede moved down until she had her head on my chest again.

"Hey Kaede," I said in a whisper to her and while I was rubbing her back gently, "have I ever told you just how beautiful you are?"

Kaede giggled quietly, "you always tell me that."

"Well it's true," I smiled.

"Oh Matthew," Kaede said happily, she was blushing at this time, and so was I (oh and for the record, Kaede and I are still naked). After another minute, Kaede got up from the bed and walked over to the closet. I got up a few seconds later and got the clothes I wanted to wear today.

Today, I was going to wear another one of dark green train T-shirts, dark blue jeans and light grey shorts. As for Kaede, she was going to wear a pink shirt, purple skirt, blue bra and panties and dark grey socks.

After we got changed, we headed off downstairs to get started on breakfast, only to find out that our sisters were making breakfast. Bridget, our cat, was already eating her breakfast.

"We're sorry," said Kaede.

"Nah that's okay," said Daisy, "we don't mind doing the cooking every now and then."

"Well thank you," Kaede and I said in unison.

Primula, Daisy and I worked together in washing and drying the dishes, while Kaede was talking with another one of my childhood friends named Lisa Brugger. People often call her the second 'Asa Shigure', mostly because she talks and acts just like Asa.

In a short while, our sisters were all ready to go.

"Thanks again for giving us a ride to school," Naomi said to Lisa.

"You're welcome Naomi," Lisa smiled.

"So how are things at your workplace?" I asked, "from what I have heard, you guys are working your butts off every second you are in there."

"Well you are right, things are busy at the computer labs. No sooner do we fix one problem then another damn problem comes up."

"Hey Lisa, watch the language around the young ones here!"

"Sorry," she sighed, "I didn't mean to swear, it's just that I'm really tired - I wish I could get the week off like you Matthew, but I haven't had the chance since that big trip."

"Ah well, don't you worry about it - I'm sure things will start settling down soon, then you can have your week off - although, I would ask for two weeks if I were you."

"Nah, one's fine," Lisa chuckled quietly.

"We better get going," said Daisy, "or we're going to be late."

"Right, well - see you two around," Lisa then walked down the pathway to her car, while she was still waving to us.

"And for once, she didn't slap me," I muttered to Kaede, "that's a relief." Kaede just giggled at my little joke.

For today, Kaede and I decided to spend some time at home. We did some housework first, from washing the tables, to the laundry and making the beds.

After a while, Kaede and I went to living room to relax on the couch, she was laying on top of me once again, while I rubbed her back gently and ran my fingers threw her hair.

"Thanks for helping me today Matthew."

"It's my pleasure Kaede, you know I always like helping you."

Kaede was about to say something when the phone rang. She got up and ran to the phone, I then got up from the couch and walked out of the living room to where Kaede was, (for the record, Kaede and I have three phones in this house. One is in the kitchen, one is just outside the living room just before the stairs, and the third one is in our room.)

"Really? Well - I'll have to check with Matthew first..." she looked over to the living room, only to see me walking out, "hold on a second..." she then spoke to me, "Asa is inviting us to a costume party tonight, would you like to go Matthew?"

"Only if you're coming with me," I chuckled quietly. Kaede giggled along to that and nodded happily, "in that case, of course I would like to go."

"We'll be more than glad to come," Kaede said to Asa over the phone, "What time would you like us to come by? Five thirty? Sure, okay we'll see you then, bye Asa," and she carefully put the phone back on it's stand.

"So, a costume party huh?"

"That's right, now...what could we wear?"

"Well...I don't know, but I'm sure we'll think of something."

And sure enough, (at around four that afternoon) we did come up with something, Kaede chose to wear a maid's outfit, while I dressed like a cammando (soldier from the army).

"They don't excatly match do they?" I asked.

"Well they might if there was story behind them being together," at this point, she wrapped both of her arms around my left arm as we stood in front of the mirror, "maybe he saved her from some awful people and the two fell in love."

"Sounds good to me," I smiled, "you know something Kaede, you look really beautiful tonight."

"Thank you," she said while blushing again, "and you look handsome tonight."

"Thanks Kaede, so - are you ready to go?"

"I'm ready."

And still holding onto my left arm, Kaede walked with me downstairs where we put our shoes on, then we headed off for the truck. Naomi and Daisy had already gone an hour ago, while Primula was visiting Max, he didn't feel like going to the party tonight, according to what Primula said.

If you are wondering, yes I am still driving the same darn old truck of mine again - although it's on it's last legs, sort to speak, I have a strong feeling that this truck will break down and I'll have to sell it to a junkyard.

Anyways, I was trying to start the engine, but it wasn't working, "Dammit!" I snapped, "stupid engine's busted again, give me a second here."

I climbed out and fiddled around with the engine for a bit, then I climbed back into the cab - this time the engine started.

"I think that trip we took it's toll on the truck, literally. Ah well, I guess it was bound to happen, it is a 1995 GMC pick up truck after all. At least I take care of my trucks better than my dad."

"Why would you say that?" Kaede asked curiously.

"Well, throughout the time I've been living with my parents, every five to six years, my father ends up replacing his truck because he wears it down. Come to think of it, I think he's got another truck right now, so that makes it four trucks already, eight if you count the others he got before I was born."

"Are you serious?" Kaede asked sounding really surprised.

"Oh I'm being serious," I chuckled.

Kaede giggled once more, then she asked, "do you know what kind of truck your dad drove when you were a kid?"

"Yeah, that I know - it was a Chevy Blazer, that was a good truck and I thought for sure it would've lasted for many years, that was until it finally broke down and my dad had to replace it. You know something though, if I do have to replace this pickup, I'll go out and get a blazer - if I can find one."

"Why that truck?"

"I guess it's because I would like to see something of my childhood return. I know it might sound crazy but..."

"I don't think it's crazy, lots of people do that, it's normal."

"Yeah you're right Kaede," I said while smiling to her. That's another reason why I love Kaede, she never makes fun of my dreams or me for that matter.

We soon arrived at the party, there were lots of people there, they were having a great time. The only two people we didn't see around here was Asa and Rin.

"I wonder where those two are," I said to Kaede, "it's strange that they're not here."

"I'm sure they'll show up soon."

"Yeah," I said in agreement.

"Nice costumes you two," said a young voice from behind us. Kaede and I literally jumped in fright, we didn't hear that person come up behind us, it was Monty and he was with Daisy.

"Sorry," said Daisy, "we didn't mean to scare you."

"That's okay," said Kaede, "we just didn't hear you. Those are some cute costumes are wearing."

Monty was wearing a prince outfit, while Daisy was wearing a princess outfit."

"Thanks Kaede," Daisy smiled while blushing.

"Hey, have you two seen Rin and Asa?" I asked.

"We saw Asa a little while ago, but then she disappeared - as for Rin, I haven't seen him at all. What about you Monty, my prince?" Daisy asked.

Monty blushed a small shade of red, then he answered her question, "I haven't seen Rin once tonight, only Asa. I think she's sick or something, because the last time I saw her, she was running off in a hurry."

"She sounded okay earlier on the phone," said Kaede.

"Are you sure about what you saw Monty?" I asked.

"I'm quite sure - I don't know anyone else who has short green hair."

"I hope Asa's okay," Kaede said quietly.

We then walked around to see if we could find her, we didn't - but we did run into someone else, almost literally. It was Ryan and his girlfriend Emily. Once again, Emily had her hair color changed - this time, to Red (a darker shade of red).

"Hi Matthew, Hi Kaede," said Emily, "Those are some nice costumes you got on."

"Thanks Emily," said Kaede.

Just for the record, Ryan looked like 'Harry Potter' and he had the lightningbolt scar on his forehead, while Emily was dressed like 'Hermonie' from the same series.

"You two are wearing great costumes too."

"Well thank you."

"Looks like every couple is here tonight," said Ryan, "except for Max and Primula."

"Oh yeah, Max didn't feel like coming here tonight," I explained, "he's hanging out back at his house with Primula. At least now we'll be able to tell the twins apart," I chuckled, and of course Ryan, Emily and Kaede chuckled to my joke.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen Rin or Asa..." Emily began.

"I'm right here," said a voice, it was Asa.

"Hey Asa. Uh, where's Rin, I thought he was coming to this party."

"Not at all, Rin's busy tonight..."

"Gee, I wonder why," I muttered to myself.

"So I'm on my own tonight - although for strange reason, I haven't been feeling that well today. It must've been something I ate today or something like that."

"Well you better take it easy then," said Ryan, "it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Ryan - did you just read my mind or something?" I asked, "Cause you just took the words out of my mouth, again!"

"Just when we were kids," he chuckled.

"I'll remember that, Ryan," said Asa, "assuming I won't get sick again."

I will admit that this was a great party, there was great food served here, great music too, like 'You'll Be In My Heart' performed by 'Phil Collins', which is of course, Kaede's and my song and of course there was the dancing.

"I'm glad Asa invited us here," Kaede whispered to me.

"Yeah I have to agree - ah Kaede, I hope you don't mind if I ask this, but why did you pick out a maid's outfit."

"I don't know, I just felt like wearing this costume - why, don't you like it?"

"Of course I do, I'm just curious as all."

"Okay, I understand," she then placed her head on my chest. Oh man she looks so cute when she does that, but then again, she always looks cute.

As the song 'You'll Be In My Heart' continued to play, Kaede and I stopped dancing, (I think you know what's coming next), she got up on her toes and kissed me on the lips for a grand total of four minutes.

"They look so cute together," Emily whispered to Ryan.

"They sure do," he smiled, "and to think less than a year ago I helped in trying to seperate them. I don't know what I was thinking."

"That's all in the past Ryan, you can't keep blaming yourself over something like that."

Ryan just smiled as his girlfriend said that, he knew she was right.

As for everyone else, Sia had a little trouble dancing at first and often stepped on Dave's foot with her high heels, seriously - that had to hurt.

"Sorry Dave," she apologized.

"That's okay Sia," he said while groaning.

Nerine on the other hand, she never made a single mistake as she danced with Daryl. Sakura and Michael were dancing perfectly too, and so were Daisy and Monty.

Mayumi and Itsuki were taking a rest at this time after dancing for so long.

"Are you having a good time Mayumi?"

"I am, thanks for coming with me Itsuki."

"Oh it's my pleasure," he smiled, then he asked, "Mayumi, can I ask you something important?"

"Sure Itsuki, what is it?"

By now Kaede and I stopped kissing, we looked over to Itsuki and Mayumi, "yep, I know that look on Itsuki's face," I whispered to Kaede, "he's going to ask her..."

"I think he is going to...," Kaede whispered too.

By now, Itsuki had gotten down on his left knee and held out a small box, "Mayumi, I've always loved you ever since we first met, and I would like to spend the rest of my life with you..." he then opened the box, Mayumi gasped, "Mayumi, will you marry me and be my wife?"

Everyone in the room heard the question and looked over to them, they wanted to hear what Mayumi was going to say.

"Itsuki..." she said sounding surprised, "are you serious?"

"I'm serious Mayumi."

Mayumi's eyes watered with tears, she really was in complete shock, "I never thought this day would come - I never thought I would ever fall in love - and I thought I would never get married...Itsuki..." she closed her eyes as tears fell out and her lips quivered, "I would love to be your wife, I will marry you."

Then she broke down into floods of happy tears, Itsuki got up slowly and gave Mayumi a gentle hug.

"It's okay Mayumi, just let it out - I know it hasn't been easy for you, but just know I'll always be by your side, I promise you."

"Thank you Itsuki," she sobbed, but still smiling throughout that time.

We then continued to dance to more songs, until around eight thirty when the party was ending. Mostly everyone had gone home after thanking Ms. Ama for the party, Asa was nowhere to be seen for some reason, I think she did get sick again.

Daisy, Monty, Naomi, Kaede and I stayed to help clean up. Mayumi and Itsuki were still around too, I think Mayumi was still overall surprised that Itsuki asked her to marry him.

"Where did you get this ring?" she asked him as she stared at the ring on her middle finger.

"I got it from that little diamond store in the shopping district. It is okay isn't it?"

"Of course it is, I think it's beautiful - thank you so much Itsuki. It's almost hard to believe that we used to insult each other when we first met, and now look at us - I love you so much."

"And I love you too."

It was then that they closed their eyes and kissed on the lips while blushing too.

"They do look cute together," smiled Naomi quietly, she came as a anime superhero character.

"Itsuki sure has come a long way hasn't he?" I asked.

"He has indeed," said Kaede, "and so has Mayumi - and now look at them, together forever in marriage - just like you and me," as she was saying this, Kaede grabbed onto my right hand with her left hand and rubbed it softly with her thumb.

By now, Asa was coming back into the room, "I'm okay now," she groaned, "false alarm."

"Are you sure you're okay Asa?" Naomi asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, there's no need to worry yourselves over me. We should be happy right now for Mayumi and Itsuki."

By now they had stopped kissing and were looking over to us, they were still smiling.

"Hey Itsuki, way to go buddy," I smiled.

"Thanks Matthew, now I have to ask you something - will you be my best man for the wedding?"

"Sure, I'll be more than happy to do it."

"How are you feeling Mayumi?" Kaede asked.

"I'm just so happy," she said with some happy tears coming down from her eyes, "now I know how you felt when Matthew asked you to marry him - this is one of the best days of my life."

"Same here Mayumi my dear," Itsuki said in a kind way, "I hope you don't mind if I call you that."

"I don't mind, I like it."

"Great," he smiled.

After they got up, Mayumi wrapped her arms around Itsuki's left arm, then they walked out of the room. They said good night to us, then they headed off for their houses, I guess Itsuki was going to walk with Mayumi back to her place first, just like a perfect gentleman.

"Way to go buddy," I said happily again, "you have come a long way since you first met her."

Of course I said it quickly to myself.

At around nine thirty that evening, Kaede was getting changed out of her clothes while I was on the Sodor Island Forums and talking with my friends again.

"Oh man I wish I could've been there," said Jamesfan's message, "that sounded like a good party."

"I'm happy for both Mayumi and Itsuki," said Metamorphical's message, "I think they are a perfect match for each other."

"Did she really cry when Itsuki asked her that question?" danparker's message asked.

"Yeah she cried, but those were happy tears," I answered back, "but you have to remember that she hasn't had an easy life with the boys always making fun of her, except for Rin and myself - so hearing that question from Itsuki was like a dream she thought would never come true."

"Yeah I understand perfectly, I hope things work out for the two of them."

"Now I have to ask, what happened to Asa tonight?" asked Anime Boy's message.

"I really don't know what's going on with her - she said it might've been something she ate today, but she didn't look that sick tonight."

"And what about Rin?" Warrior asked through his message, "Why didn't he show up?"

"I really don't know the answer to that one - come to think of it, I don't know why Rin acts this way anymore."

"He does seem to be acting differently, at least he used to show up no matter what, but this time he didn't, according to what you said," Warrior's next message showed, "the question now is why?"

"Who knows," I sighed as I replied back.

"Can you please tell Mayumi and Itsuki that I said 'congratulations'?" Sierracat27's message showed, and so did the other messages.

"I certainly will," I replied back to all of them.

I then looked around on the Sodor Island Forums and posted a few new adaptations of my own, then I logged off and shut down my computer. I then got changed out of my clothes, then I layed down on the bed.

Kaede shut off the lights, then she climbed into bed and layed down on top of me again.

"Did you have a good time tonight Kaede?"

"I did, thank you for coming with me."

"You're welcome, my queen."

Kaede blushed and she kissed me on the right side of my face, I then kissed her on the right side of her face.

"Kaede, would you like me to sing you another song?"

"Yes please," she said happily. So once again I got my Ipod from the nightstand and searched through the list, then at last I found the song I was looking for. Kaede took one end of the earphones and I took the other, then I started to sing the song 'Picture of You' by 'Boyzone'.

_Didn't they say that I would make a mistake,_

_ Didn't they say you were going to be trouble?_

_ People told me you were too much to take,_

_ I couldn't see it, I didn't want to know,_

_ I let you in and you let me down,_

_ You mix me up and you turn my life around_

_ Left me feeling I had nowhere to go, I was alone_

_ How was I to know that..._

_ You would be there when I needed somebody_

_ you would be there, the only one who could help me_

_ I had a picture of you in my mind_

_ Never knew it would be so wrong_

_ Why did it take me so long just to find_

_ You're the friend that was there was all along._

_ You believe that after all we've been through,_

_ I'd be able to put my trust in you._

_ Just to show you, and forgive and forget,_

_ Looking back, I have no regrets cause..._

_ You would be there when I needed somebody_

_ you would be there, the only one who could help me_

_ I had a picture of you in my mind_

_ Never knew it would be so wrong_

_ Why did it take me so long just to find_

_ You're the friend that was there was all along._

_ You would be there when I needed somebody_

_ you would be there, the only one who could help me_

_ I had a picture of you in my mind_

_ Never knew it would be so wrong_

_ Why did it take me so long just to find_

_ You're the friend that was there was all along._

_ Had a picture of you in my mind_

_ Never knew it would be so wrong_

_ Why did it take me so long just to find_

_ You're the friend that was there was all along._

_ Had a picture of you in my mind_

_ Never knew it would be so wrong_

_ Why did it take me so long just to find_

_ Friend that was there all along_

_ Picture of you in my mind_

_ Never knew it would be so wrong_

"I hope you don't mind if I sang that song for you," I said after I caught my breath.

"I don't mind - I loved it," and once again, she kissed me on the lips. We kissed for a while, then she moved back down till she had her head resting on my chest, then we said our goodnights to each other and we went happily to sleep. Little did we know that we were due to find out the real reason as to why Asa was feeling sick tonight.


	4. Asa's Surprise

Well, I did say in the last episode that this episode is going to reveal the reason as to why Asa wasn't feeling well, the answer will shock and surprise you. The story starts off in third person narration so that we can find out what happened to Asa, then it goes back to being a first person (Matthew) narrating the story. Oh and the date of this episode is May 20th 2011. Anyhow, that's all I have to say for now...I am now proud to present the fourth episode of 'Our Kinda Life', I hope that you will enjoy this episode and yes there will be some swearing in this episode, and definetly more 'cute' moments too.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 4: Asa's Surprise**_

It was only five in the morning, but for Asa Shigure, she was up in her bedroom and throwing up into a bucket. Ms. Ama came into the room to see if her daughter was okay.

"I don't know what's wrong with me mom," Asa groaned, "I felt uneasy last night and I'm feeling the same way this morning."

"I think I might know what it is," her mother said, "I'll phone the doctor and see if I can't make an appoitment for you."

Asa wanted to say 'no', but she couldn't get in a single word before she threw up into the bucket again.

A few hours later, she was feeling much better, but now she and Ms. Ama were waiting in the doctor's office. He soon came in, "first of all I want to thank you two for waiting so long."

"That's okay doctor," said Asa, "so, do you know why I've been throwing up lately?"

The doctor looked over to Ms. Ama with a real serious look on his face, Ms. Ama looked down to the floor and sighed quietly.

"What?" Asa asked, "What is it? Is it life threatening?"

"Not at all," said the doctor, "Ms. Asa Shigure, I need you to listen to me carefully - you are...pregnant."

Asa's eyes opened in shock, "I...I...I'm pregnant? Are you sure about that, doctor? Maybe you got my samples mixed up with someone else's, are you really sure that I'm..." Asa just couldn't finish, she was in complete shock.

"Ms. Asa, I am being serious here, you...are...pregnant."

"Oh Asa," said Ms. Ama quietly.

"I...I'm pregnant," Asa said sounding a little uneasy, mostly because she couldn't believe what she just heard. "I'm pregnant..."

"You're pregnant?" Kaede asked in complete shock when Asa came over. Asa nodded her head slowly and sighed deeply.

"Does Rin know about this?" I asked her.

"No not yet," Asa answered, "I haven't told him yet."

Speaking of that guy, Naomi came into the room with Rin, "hey guys, I just came by to get that book you said I could borrow."

"Ah Rin perfect timing," I said, "There's something you need to know, you might want to talk to Asa."

Rin looked a little worried, he walked over to Asa, who was still sitting down on the chair. He got down till he was close enough to look Asa face to face, she still looked unhappy.

"Is everything okay Asa?" he asked.

"Not really," she answered sadly, she sighed unhappily, took in a deep breath and spoke up, "Rin, I am pregnant."

As soon as she said that, Rin gasped in surprise, he couldn't what he heard, "are you sure?" he asked, sounding shocked like Asa.

"Yes," she answered, "I'm carrying your child."

"Well that answers all the questions I had," said Naomi (she was joking around again), but quickly went silent when I looked over to her with a real serious look on my face. She knew that this was not the time to be making jokes.

"Are you surprised by this news Rin?" Asa asked him.

"I am," he answered quietly.

"So...what are we going to do now?"

"Well," Rin said quietly, "I really don't know."

"We weren't planning on this...I'm sorry Rin," Asa then started to shed some tears from her eyes.

Rin got up and gave Asa a hug to help calm her down, for as long as I've been here, I've never seen Asa cry like that. Rin then spoke up, "I know it won't be easy, but you won't have to go through this alone - I'll be by your side forever, I promise."

"Pinky swear on it?"

"Pinky swear," Rin smiled and wrapped his right pinky around Asa's right pinky, then together they said "pinky swear."

"Way to go Rin," I called over to him (just for the record, I was over by the kitchen counter washing the pots and pans), "but I think you have forgotten something."

"And what's that?" he asked.

"You need to get married," Kaede answered.

"Kaede, did you just read my mind again? Cause that's just what I was going to say."

Kaede giggled quietly, then she and I looked back over to the young couple, they were blushing at this time.

"Yeah, you two are right," said Rin, "but I can't afford an engagment ring? I can barely afford to pay the rent at my apartment."

"You don't need to worry one more second buddy," I called over to Rin, "I can give you all the money you need to buy an engagment ring."

"Would you really?" he asked, I nodded my head in agreement, "well thanks Matthew."

Asa was just so happy to hear this that she jumped off the chair and gave Rin another hug, she knocked the poor guy down to the ground, "Sorry," she said shyly.

"That's okay Asa, there's no need to be sorry."

A little later, I went with Rin to help pay for the engagment ring he was going to get.

"Hello there," said the man behind the counter, "may I help you two?"

"Yes you can," I said, "my friend here is looking for an engagment ring for his girlfriend. He would like one of the finest rings you've got, no price limit here okay?"

"You got it," said the man and went into the back of the store for the best rings.

"No price limit?" Rin asked me, "Matthew, are you sure about that? Cause it might take me a while to pay you back."

"You owe me nothing Rin, you're marrying Asa and that's all that matters. In fact, the ring I gave Kaede was really expensive, but I didn't care as long as she liked it. Oh and before I forget, where were you last night?"

"I had to take care of some other things..."

"You were playing video games all night weren't you?"

"Yes," he sighed, "and I lost track of time again."

"Figures," I sighed, "you need to work on your timing a little more," then we noticed the man coming back out with the best rings he had.

Rin took a look at the many rings, he was surprised by the prices of the many rings there (just for the record, they would equal to $10,000 in Canadian money). He didn't like half of them.

"Dammit Rin," I groaned, "what's the matter with these rings?"

"Nothing, I'm just looking for the perfect ring that Asa will like the best."

"Rin, Asa will love whatever ring you give her, mostly because it's coming from you."

"Yeah, I guess you're..." then he found what he was looking for. He was looking at a beautiful diamond ring with a diamond that was bigger than all the rest and had a little heart curved on top of it, "that's the one, I know Asa will love that one."

"Excellent choice," said the man behind the counter, "most of the guys who come in here for an engagment ring for their girlfriend usually choose this ring, it's a real popular one."

"It looks the same to the ring I gave Kaede," I said while taking a look at it, then I looked over to Rin, "Are you sure this is the ring you're going to give her?"

"Yes, this is the one ring I'm going to give her."

"In that case, he'll get it," I said to the man.

"Most excellent," said the man. He then pulled out a little blue box and placed the ring inside. I then payed for the ring, (it was more than $10,000, it was more $12,000 in Canadian dollars).

"Are you sure you don't want me to pay you back?" Rin asked me.

"Nah, don't worry about it buddy, you don't need to pay me back, okay?"

"Okay," he smiled, "thanks again."

I soon returned to the house, at around the same time as Primula.

"Hey Primula, I haven't seen you all morning, where have you been?"

"I...slept over at Max's house," she answered shyly, "I was just feeling tired last night, so Max said I could spend the night there. He gave me his bed for the night."

"That was nice of him, so what was it like sleeping over in your boyfriend's bedroom?"

"It was nice - but I didn't sleep with him in the same bed, he slept on the floor."

"That's okay Primula, I never said it was wrong - I mean come on, shortly after Kaede and I became a couple, we started sleeping together and no one said it was wrong."

"I know that, but I think it'll be a while yet before Max and I do sleep in the same bed. What is it like? To sleep with the one you love?"

"Well Primula, when you sleep with the one person you love, it makes you and your one true love feel happy just being together. When you go to sleep, your true love is the last thing you see and when you wake up, they are the first thing you see..."

"Do you get to see Kaede in the mornings?" Primula asked while interupting me.

"I sure do, when we started off as a couple, she used to wake me up before or after that damn clock of mine went off, as for nowadays - I get up with her at around four firty, so yeah I still get to see her in the morning. So Primula, does Kaede know you spent the night at Max's house?"

"I did, I called her a while ago to tell her. Then she told me that Asa was pregnant, is it true?"

"It is," I answered.

We continued talking as we walked up the pathway to the house, Primula went in first, followed by me. Naomi gave Primula a stern look, but Kaede and Daisy just smiled as Primula walked upstairs.

"Did you get a good night sleep last night?" Kaede asked.

"It is was okay, although it felt a little strange sleeping in a different bed."

"I know the feeling," I said, "tell me Primula, did you have trouble getting to sleep?"

"Just for a few minutes, then after that, I had no trouble. Now if it's okay with you guys, I'm going to take a bath."

"It's okay with us Rimu," Kaede smiled.

Primula smiled back, then she walked up the rest of the stairs to the upstairs level.

"So, did you and Rin find a perfect ring for Asa?" Naomi asked, "or did he say 'no' to all the rings shown?"

"He did say no for a while," I answered as we walked into the kitchen, "but after a while, he found the perfect ring. It was expensive that much I will say. Still, I have a strong feeling that Asa will love it when he shows that ring to her."

We were soon to find out though that Rin wasn't going to propose to Asa - not just yet. Asa never called that night to tell us, and by the next morning, there was still no word on what was going on with Rin and Asa.

"I wonder what's taking so long," groaned Naomi as she walked back and forth in front of the table.

"Can you please stop doing that?" Primula asked, she wasn't even looking up, which surprised Naomi. That little moment there reminded me of when Naomi was in the hospital that one day, Primula said that to both myself and Lisa while we waited.

"Just be patient Little Sis," I said, "it just takes time for a guy to build up his confidence. I'm sure that Rin will propose to Asa sometime today."

"Do you think he will?" Daisy asked, "he is a shy person after all, at least from what I've heard."

"Maybe, but at least he's not as shy as you or Big Bro," Naomi giggled quietly, but quickly went quiet as soon as she saw Daisy and I stare at her with serious looks on our faces.

Just as Kaede was getting up to do some housework, we heard the phone ring.

"I'll get it," said Kaede. She walked over to the phone (in the kitchen) and picked it up, "Fuyou residants...oh hi Asa...did Rin propose to you yet...he didn't?...well yes he and Matthew went to get the ring yesterday..."

"Which was expensive I might add," Naomi chuckled as she copied what I said.

"Ha-ha," I laughed sarcastically, "you're real funny Little Sis."

"...he never showed up at all?" Kaede was still talking with Asa on the phone, "well don't worry Asa, I'm sure he'll show up soon."

"And that's my cue," I groaned as I got up.

"And where are you going?" Naomi asked.

"I'm going over to Rin's place to talk to him, plus it'll be a good chance for me to lend him the book I promised him he could borrow." I walked over to the phone and gave Kaede a soft kiss on the left side of her face, "I'll be back soon okay?"

"Okay," she whispered to me, she was still on the phone talking to Asa.

I grabbed the book from the cupboard in the living room, then I went over to the doorway to get my shoes on, then I headed off to Rin's apartment.

I soon arrived at the apartment. I walked up the stairs and knocked on the door, "come in, the door's not locked!" Rin's voice called out.

I turned the door handle, then I walked inside, "I've said this to you before, you should lock your door. Anyways, I brought that book you wanted over."

"Thanks," he said.

"And I know it's none of my business, but when are you going to propose to Asa, she actually called our house to tell us that you haven't proposed to her yet."

Rin pressed a button on his game control for his X-Box, which paused the game 'Halo 2'.

"I still can't believe that she's pregnant, how did one night of celebration turn into all of this?"

"I don't know, these things happen - now why don't you tell me what you were just talking about?"

"Well, it happened on Saturday night - Asa came over to tell me that she had gotten promoted. We ate out first, then we came back here for a small little party, she then said I looked handsome and I said she looked beautiful and the next thing I knew...ah, I don't need to say what we did next, do I?"

"Nope, you don't need to tell me."

"Okay," he said as he got up from the couch and walked over to the window, "I was planning on proposing to Asa in October, this year. I never thought I would have to propose to her now."

"Ah Rin, have you forgotten something...?"

"I know, I haven't proposed to her," he sighed and went quiet again.

"Rin, are you feeling okay?"

"Not really Matthew, I just never imagined that I would become a father this soon - I just wonder if I'll be good as a father."

"I'm sure you will buddy," I said in a kind way, "you don't have to be perfect, just try your best. I know this might sound hard to believe, but you already have what it takes to be the best darn father that kid could ask for."

"Do you really think so?" he asked, I nodded my head in answer to his question. "Excuse me Matthew, I got to do something important - propose to my girlfriend..."

"Sure thing Rin, you can ask her right now - she's standing on the other side of the door."

The door opened and sure enough, there was Asa, she was standing there. Kaede was standing out on the balcony. Asa walked into the room, while I stepped out.

"Asa," Rin began, "ah...how much did you hear?"

"Pretty much everything," she answered, "were you really going to propose to me in October?"

"Well I was," he sighed, "that was until you told me that you are pregnant. I'm sorry I didn't propose to you sooner, I just..."

"It's okay Rin, I understand why you didn't propose yet."

"Well now I'm going to do what I have to do," he then got down on his left knee and pulled out the dark blue box, "Asa Shigure, will you be my wife?" he then opened the box and revealed the ring.

Asa gasped when she saw it, her eyes watered with tears as she looked down to Rin.

"Yes Rin, I will be your wife, I will marry you."

Rin then got up and gave Asa a big hug, she finally broke down in tears, not because she was sad - it was because she was happy for this moment. Now she was going to be a wife and a mother.

"Two proposals in a few days," I whispered to Kaede, "you don't see something like this happening all the time."

"I know, isn't it wonderful?"

"It sure is, honey," Kaede looked up to me with a shocked look, but then smiled and placed her head on my left shoulder. We felt it was best to leave Asa and Rin alone, so we walked away from the apartment and back to the house.

Later that night, I was online on the Sodor Island Forums talking with my friends, even they were surprised by the news.

"First Itsuki askes Mayumi to marry him, then Rin proposes to Asa," said Warrior's message, "I have to agree with you Matthew in saying that you don't see something like that everyday."

"I'm still overall surprised that Asa is pregnant," came Sierracat's message (mostly everyone was saying that), "at least it answers our questions of why she was ill a couple of nights ago."

"I'm personally glad Rin proposed to Asa instead of staying away from her," Danparker's message replied.

"You hear this kind of stuff every now and then," said Anime Boy's message, "although most of the time, you hear that the boy doesn't bother to help and stays as far as he can from the girl."

"That is true my friend," I replied back, "those damn bastards sicken me. Still, Rin is honorable so I knew he wouldn't leave Asa's side."

"And Matthew, I hope you don't mind if I ask," came Metamorphical's message, "but did you really call Kaede 'honey'?"

"Yes, I did call her 'honey'," I chuckled as I replied back, "Kaede doesn't mind if I call her that every now and then, she likes it."

"How's Primula doing?" Jamesfan's message came up next, "you said she didn't come home the other night."

"Primula's doing just fine, she said that she was feeling tired that night, so Max offered her his bed while he slept on the floor."

"How sweet," came Sierracat's message.

After talking with my friends for a while, I read another book in the 'Your Own Railway Series Style' fiction thread, then I logged off, shut down my computer and went downstairs to see Kaede.

She was watching 'Corner Gas' all alone, our sisters had already gone to bed.

Kaede looked over to me, showing her trademark smile, "do you want to watch 'Corner Gas' with me?"

"I'd love to," I smiled.

I walked over to the couch and sat down next to Kaede. She then placed her head on my shoulder while I placed my left hand on her left shoulder. We watched two to three episodes of 'Corner Gas' until it was time for us to go to bed.

Tonight, I was going to wear my light blue Pajama pants and the T-Shirt I had on today, while Kaede was wearing the nearly white pajamas that look similar to her white dress.

As per usual, she was going to sleep on top of me, we haven't slept side by side for a long time.

"Matthew, if we were still a couple and I told you that I was pregnant, what would you do?"

"Well Kaede, I would get you a beautiful ring and ask you marry me. Then when the child comes, I would help you to look after it. Why do you ask?"

"I was just being curious," she smiled to me.

I just smiled back to her - we then kissed on the lips for a couple of minutes.

"Kaede, would you like to be a mother?" I asked her.

"Well...not right now, but yes I would like to be a mother," she answered, then she went silent. I could tell that she was worried, "Matthew, do you think I would make a great mother?"

"I do think so," I answered her, "I think you will be a great mother. I only hope I can be a good father...ah you know, when that time comes."

"You will be a great father Matthew," Kaede smiled at me, "I just know it."

"Thanks Kaede, you know when I was talking to Rin, he told me that he was a little worried about being a good father, so I..."

"Told him that he will be a good father and he doesn't need to be perfect right?"

"That's right - you heard every word didn't you?"

"Just a little, Asa was the one listening at the door."

I had to chuckle at that moment, "that sounds like Asa for sure."

"Yeah," Kaede giggled along happily.

We were quiet for less than ten seconds before Kaede let out a yawn, "Good night Matthew."

"Good night Kaede, my queen," I said as I winked at her, she giggled happily, then she closed her eyes and went to sleep. I stayed awake for less than a minute, then I closed my eyes and went off to sleep, dreaming about being with Kaede just like I always do, and she of course was dreaming about me.


	5. Charlie Banks

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed reading the first four episodes of 'Our Kinda Life', cause I had a lot of fun writing them up. Now in this episode, I'm introducing three new characters, two of which are old friends of 'Matthew' from high school. Also note that when one of the new characters is telling the story, that's when we go into third person narration again. Anyhow, I don't have much to say because I don't want to reveal what is to come in the next few episodes, and now...here's episode 5...enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 5: Charlie Banks**_

It rained throughout the entire day on Sunday May 22nd, but that didn't stop Daisy and I from going to the grogery store. We took the truck to the store, got what we needed, then we headed off back to the house, we had to run back and forth from the truck to the house.

"Whew!" I gasped after we were done, "it's really coming down hard out there."

"You're not kidding Matt," said Daisy, she was soaked from head to toe - come to think of it, so was I, "is it okay if I get a towel to dry myself, I promise I'll help you put the grogeries away."

"Of course it's okay - I know you never break a promise."

"Thanks Matt," she said and ran to the kitchen to get a towel. She came back out in a few seconds with a towel for me.

I thanked Daisy, then we brought the grogeries into the kitchen and put them away (just for the record, I had to take off my sweater because it was soaked).

"Thanks for the help Daisy," I said after we had finished.

"You're welcome Matt," she smiled, "I'm always happy to help you."

"That's why you're the best little sister I've ever had," I smiled, Daisy blushed happily when she heard that. Even though she was adopted into the Gagnon family, she is like the little sister I've never had. Anyways, Daisy ran up to me and gave me a hug.

"And you are the best big brother I've ever had," she said happily while some tears came down from her eyes.

After a minute of hugging, we heard the doorbell ring - Daisy went to answer it, it was Monty. As for me, I went upstairs to see Kaede. Just as I came to the top step, I saw Kaede coming out of the washroom - she had a green towel wrapped around her while she had another towel on top of her head, she also had on her pink slippers.

"Oh hi Matthew," she said as she looked at me, "when did you get in?"

"Just a few minutes ago," I answered, "it's really coming down hard out there, both Daisy and I were soaked from head to toe. Anyways, we got everything you asked for on the list. Oh and we ran into an old friend of mine, Charlie Banks."

Kaede looked at me a little confused, "who is Charlie Banks?"

"He's an old friend of mine from high school, he used to be known as 'Wild Dog'."

"Oh yeah, I remember when you told me about him..." as we were talking, we were walking back to our bedroom, "he was in your high school for a couple of years and then disappeared."

"That's correct Kaede, I did tell you that, but he wasn't alone - another friend of mine named Megan Streamer disappeared on the same day as Charlie, they didn't tell me why though," I said while Kaede picked out the clothes she wanted to wear, "And yes I did bump into Charlie, quite literally."

Kaede giggled a little bit when she heard that.

"After we apologized, and after reintroducing ourselves, Charlie said that he and Megan are moving here to Tokyo, as he said it, they wanted to start a new life here. And now I would like to ask you, is it okay if they come over for dinner tonight, I told him I would call as soon as you give me your answer..."

"Well of course you can invite them over," Kaede smiled, "I would love to meet them."

"Thanks Kaede," I then grabbed the phone that's in our room and called the number on Charlie's cellphone, (he gave it to me at the grogery store), during this time, Kaede was getting changed into her clothes. "Hey Charlie, yeah it's Matthew...you guys are more than welcome to come over...okay then, we'll see you two in the bit...oh, there's three of you...okay then, we'll see then...okay Wild Dog, yeah - bye."

A couple of hours later, Kaede and I were in the kitchen working on dinner, we had already told our three sisters and Monty that we were to have a few guests coming over in a few short minutes.

"Geez Big Bro," said Naomi, "how many of your friends are planning on moving to this city?"

"Don't know," I answered quietly.

"I mean - first came Patrick, then Ryan..."

"They were aganist Matt being with Kaede at the time remember?" Daisy interupted.

"Yeah I get it, but they are his friends nowadays."

Before anyone else could say another word, we heard the doorbell ring. I walked out to the enterance, then I slid the door to one side and on the other side was - Charlie Banks!

"Hey Bro! It's good to see you again," he said happily.

"Hi Wild Dog," I said as we high fived each other hard, (similar to the way Michael and I high five each other), only a little harder, "did you have any problems finding the place?"

"Nah not at all."

"Hi Matthew," said a voice from behind him. And there she was, Megan Streamer, she looked excatly the same as she did when I last saw her. She had no pony tails, but she does have long bright yellow hair, "it's been quite a while hasn't it?"

"It has, it's good to see you Megan."

"It's good to see you too," she smiled.

"So Matthew," Charlie piped up next, "where's your girl?"

I was about to answer when we saw her coming out to the enterance, "there she is," I smiled.

"Hello there, I'm Kaede Gagnon, I'm Matthew's wife. Matthew's told me so much about you two."

"Good things I hope," said Charlie.

"Hey come on, have you ever known me to say anything bad about someone?"

"Yes," and that came from Naomi.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," it wasn't just me who said it, Charlie said it too. That's something about him that hasn't changed, he always seemed to know what I was going to say and then say it at the same time as me.

"Glad to see some things haven't changed about you Charlie," I chuckled, "anyways, allow me to introduce you to the rest of our family. The one who made the sarcastic comment is Naomi Fuyou, she is Kaede's little sister. The girl standing to her left is Primula..."

"I'm Kaede's little sister too," she interupted, "And you can call me Rimu if you want."

Daisy then stepped up, "hi there, my name is Daisy Gagnon, I'm Matthew's little sister."

"Little sister?" Megan asked in surprise as she looked over towards me, "I thought you were an only child."

"I was, that was until I adopted Daisy to be my sister last year or was it she adopted me to be her big brother," I said as a little joke, mostly everyone in the room chuckled at my joke for less than twenty seconds.

"Ah Matthew," Charlie spoke up again, "remember when you said that nothing has changed about me - well, you're kinda wrong there..."

Megan then moved to the left, revealing a young child standing behind her. I gasped when I saw that young girl, "you guys have a daughter?"

"We do," said Megan quietly as she looked down to her little girl, "her name is Alyssa, she's five years old."

"Five years old?" Naomi asked out loud, "but if she's five years old, then that would mean that..."

"Megan was pregnant back in 2007," I said.

"It's a long story Matthew..." Charlie said quietly.

In a short while, we were all gathered in the living room, Monty introduced himself to Charlie, Megan and their little girl, Alyssa.

We started eating the wonderful meal in a few short minutes, after Kaede, Daisy and I brought the food into the living room. Once we were all gathered in the living room, that's when Charlie and Megan started to tell us why they disappeared back in 2007.

Megan started things off, "as you know Matthew, Charlie and I had strong romantic feelings for each other, of course you knew that cause whenever you saw us - we would be kissing on the lips."

"Yeah I remember that."

"How long have you two been going out before you disappeared?" Primula asked.

"For almost a year," said Charlie as he took a bite of the food, he then spoke up again, "anyways, one night I asked Megan to come over so we could work on our homework together and that's what we did...at first..."

We went quiet for a while, we knew what _that_ meant.

"After a few days," Megan spoke up next, "I found out that I was pregnant. When I got to school, I told Charlie everything..."

"No way," Charlie said quietly and looked around, "are you sure about this, Megan?"

"I'm sure," she said quietly, "I _am_ pregnant. My parents are going to kill me when they find out."

"Nah, they wouldn't kill you - they would kill me," Charlie sighed as he looked down to the floor, then he slammed his fist into the wall, making him groan in pain.

"Charlie, I'm scared. Can I stay with you for a while?"

"Well you could - except for the fact when my parents find out, they _will_ kill you and me."

"Then what are we going to do?"

"I don't know," he groaned.

"We got nowhere to go - and it won't take long for everyone to find out that I'm pregnant. Maybe it's best if we leave and don't bother coming back."

"No way, Charlie Banks runs away from no one."

Megan began to shed some tears from her eyes, "it's okay Charlie, you don't have to stay with me if you don't want to..."

"Are you crazy? I'll always stay by your side."

"Do you mean it?"

"Of course I do - even if we run away, I'll stay by your side all the time, I promise."

"Thank you Charlie."

"We attended our classes that day, but we never once mentioned to anyone that I was pregnant," Megan continued after she told us that short little story, "then once school was done for the day, we ran off to start a new life - without saying goodbye to anyone."

We were silent after we heard that, none of us knew what to say.

"Well at least I now know why you two ran away," I said after a while and breaking the vow of silence.

"Yeah we're sorry about that, Matthew," said Charlie, "but we had to do what we had to do."

"Still though, if you guys had told me, I would've helped you."

"You maybe - but not your parents, they would've killed us too. We were only seventeen years old then, most people think it's wrong for seventeen year olds to get pregnant, so that's why we left."

"We wanted to say good bye to you on that day," Megan spoke up next, "but you were talking to Kristan, so we couldn't say anything to you."

"Who's Kristan?" Naomi asked.

"He's the 'anime nut' from my old high school," I answered.

"Oh so _that_ is his name, I just assumed that everyone called him the 'anime nut' all the time."

"No that would be insulting," I said firmly.

Kaede was taking another bite of her meal, when she noticed Alyssa standing close by, "you're very pretty," she said.

"Well thank you," Kaede said while blushing.

Alyssa smiled and then ran off back to her seat beside Megan, we talked for quite a long time until we had finished eating.

After dinner, Charlie helped carry the dishes into the kitchen, he was trying to carry more than he was suppose to.

"Show off!" I muttered, then I spoke normally to him, "just be careful with those dishes Charlie."

"Aren't I always careful?" he called to me, "and please don't say no."

"I won't say no," I said, and didn't say anymore. It wasn't long before the dishes were in the sink, and we were washing them, "if you ask me Charlie, you and Megan did the right thing by keeping Alyssa."

"Do you think so?"

"Well of course."

"Thanks Matthew," he then sighed unhappily, "I only wish I didn't have to give up being 'Wild Dog', those were some of the best days of my life."

"Are you sure about that? What about when you and Megan got married or when Alyssa was born?"

"Those were good days too," he said, "still though, wouldn't it be cool if we could relive those glory days again?"

"I guess so, but I'm happy with the way things are now. I'm happily married to Kaede, I have a good job, I live in a wonderful house and I have a wonderful family too."

"Those are good things Matthew, but think about it for a minute will you? We could party all night long without a care, hanging out with whoever we want and do whatever we want."

"Ah Charlie, as fun as that sounds, isn't that how Megan got pregnant in the first place? No offence."

"No harm done," he answered, "And yeah you are right, I guess that's why I had to tone it down a little."

Then I had to ask, "so where are you guys living right now?" Charlie told me the address and street they were living at, I gasped when he said that, "that's where Lisa lives, you're practically next door neighbours."

"Lisa? Oh you mean that blonde haired girl you used to talk about all the time from your days at elementary school? The one who..."

"The very same girl who slaps me like crazy."

"In other words, she would pound the crap out of you."

"No, she just slapped me on the back without warning. I don't know how that girl _still_ manages to sneak up behind me and slap me."

"I guess some things just don't change about you, huh Matthew?"

"Not at all," I chuckled.

"Hey, do you remember every morning we used to hang out at the stairwell just before the enterance and we would be playing music on my portable CD player, full blast?"

"Oh yeah I remember that, we got yelled at several times when we did that," I chuckled, "especially when you turned up the volume for that one song 'Moody Blues' by...ah, who was the artist that played that song?"

"Mark Joesph. As I recall, I was the only Canadian that had a copy of that CD, which made you jealous."

"I wasn't jealous," I said in protest, "I was just..."

"Jealous," he snickered.

"Okay I was jealous," I said quietly, "hey, do you still have the CD?"

"Afraid not, I left it behind with the rest of my stuff when Megan and I ran away, I was never able to find another copy of the CD anywhere. I thought though that you would've taken it after we left."

"No I would never do that, I thought you would come back for it and your portable CD player - I still like to know how you were able to sneak it into the school."

"Sorry Matthew, but that is my secret," he chuckled.

I sighed deeply as I went back to washing the dishes.

After a while, we were done and once again back in the living room talking with our visiting friends.

"Why did you two call her 'Aylssa'?" Naomi asked.

"It was the only name that came to my mind after she was born," Megan answered, "and so the name stuck with her ever since."

"I like the name Alyssa," the little girl said cutely.

At around eight, it was time for our guests to head off for home, "we have to get our little girl off to bed," said Megan as she picked up her tired little girl.

"We'll see you around okay buddy," Charlie said to me.

"Oh yeah, see you around buddy," I said as we high fived each other, (normally this time, no hard slaps), then I looked over to Megan, "see you soon okay?"

"Yeah, see you soon," then she looked down to her little girl, "come on sweetie."

Alyssa then looked over to me, "bye-bye," she said sweetly.

After the goodbyes, we watched as our friends heaed off for home.

"They seem like nice people," said Daisy, "but if you don't mind if I say this - that Charlie Banks for is a little too wild."

"Maybe," I said, "but he's not wild as he used to be - Charlie and Megan sure have changed over the years, still - it's good to see them again and to finally know why they left in the first place."

"I don't trust Charlie," said Naomi out loud.

"Now why would you say that?" Daisy asked, "I know he can be a little wild, but he's not a bad guy."

"I don't know, I just have this feeling that we can't trust him..."

"I'm sure you can trust him Little Sis," I said as I looked over to her, "Charlie is like Patrick and Ryan, always there for a friend and will never let you down."

"Until he betrays you," she said quietly, "like they did."

"I heard you you know," I said loudly, which made Naomi jump, "it's like Daisy said, Charlie might be a little wild, but he's not a bad guy. If he was, then he would've left Megan to deal with being pregnant alone, but he didn't - he stood by her side and is still with her and Alyssa to this day, that to me is a good guy."

"Unlike those who leave their girlfriends when they find out," said Primula, "I hate those cowards."

"You and me both Primula."

"Still," Naomi said quietly, "I still think you should be careful around Charlie."

She had that worrying look on her face and I knew that look all too well. It's the same look she gives me whenever fricken trouble comes around, so I agreed to keep an eye on Charlie, but in hopes that I could prove Naomi wrong.

That evening, I spoke with my friends on the Sodor Island Forums and told them about my friend Charlie Banks. I had told them all once before about Charlie and Megan, and too were shocked with what I told them.

"At least it answers alot of questions we had about them," said Anime Boy's message, "Still I have to know, why did Naomi tell you to be careful around Charlie? It's not like he's one of the knuckleheads."

"I don't know why Little Sis said that," I replied back, "all she said was that she doesn't trust Charlie."

"Do you think it could be her sixth sense again?" asked Sierracat27's message.

"I don't know - I currently hope not. Charlie is a good person, he would never do anything to hurt those he cares about."

"Never say 'never' Matthew," replied Warrior's message, "Charlie just might surprise you, remember what happened with Lisa back in January last year? She surprised you and Kaede when she attacked her."

"True," I replied back, "you make a good point there buddy."

"If that's the case, then please be careful," said Jamesfan's message, "just in case he is a bad guy. If not, then at least you can tell Naomi that she was wrong."

I chuckled when I read that part. After talking with my friends, I read some new Extended Railway Series Version 2 books, then I logged off and shut down my computer. Tonight, I was wearing my pajama pants with the T-Shirt I wore today, while Kaede was wearing another 'cute' piece of lingerie, it was also in light blue.

"So Kaede, what did you think of my friends from high school?"

"They seem really nice, especially Megan," she smiled, "she was so kind."

"I know, she was always like that back in high school. She's one of those people everyone loved and wanted to have as a friend."

Kaede giggled when she heard that. We then stared in each other's eyes, then we kissed on the lips for two and a half minutes.

"Good night Matthew my king."

"Good night Kaede my queen."

Kaede continued to smile at me, then she placed her head on my chest, closed her eyes and went off to sleep. I stayed awake for a couple of minutes, just rubbing her back and running my fingers threw her hair.

"I love you Kaede," I whispered and gave her a kiss on the top of her head, then I closed my eyes and went off to sleep.


	6. Dark Secrets Revealed

Here now is the sixth episode of 'Our Kinda Life', this one is once again about 'Charlie','Megan' and 'Alyssa'. In the last episode, we got introduced to these characters, and now in this chapter we discover the hidden secrets that Charlie has kept hidden - up to now! Anyways, that's all I have to say - for here for the sixth episode of the series, enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 6: Dark Secrets Revealed**_

Have you ever heard the pharse 'Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover'? I have, I always use it whenever someone is making fun of someone else just because they are different. Although, on Monday May 23rd, I was about to find out that the little pharse could also be used to say that you shouldn't assume that someone is nice.

The morning started off like any other, I had already gotten dressed and had eaten another wonderful breakfast made by Kaede.

Our three sisters, along with Max and Monty were on their way to school and I was getting ready to go to work, "have a good day Matthew," Kaede said sweetly to me.

"I will - and you have a good day okay?"

"I will," she smiled, then she handed me my lunch.

I waved to her as I walked down the pathway and over to the truck. I had a little bit of engine trouble at first, but after working on the engine for a while, I was on my way. Kaede waved to me until I was out of sight.

I soon arrived on the set of 'Tech Corner', Al (Alfred as some people call him) and Sakura were setting everything up for today's show.

"Did you enjoy your week off Matthew?" Al asked me.

"Yep, I had a good week off..."

"Especially since you got to be with Kaede," Sakura giggled quietly, "Michael told me that you were spending a lot of time with her."

"Yeah well, you guys know how much I love Kaede and that I love spending alot of time with her. Last week though was full of surprises, from watching Itsuki proposing to Mayumi, then finding out that Asa is pregnant and Rin proposed to her and then finding out that a couple of high school friends of mine are moving to Tokyo, the excitment sure is starting to build up again."

"Sure sounds like it," said another voice from behind me. At that point, I got another slap on the back - it came from Lisa Brugger again, "it's good to have you back at work Matthew."

"And why's that?" I asked while groaning.

"It's because I can't go a single week without slapping you, you should know that by know."

"Yeah I know," I groaned as I got back to my feet, "so Lisa, have you heard that Asa is pregnant?"

"Oh yeah, I heard all about from Naomi."

"That little girl will tell you anything won't she?" I then looked back over to Al, "So what are we doing today?"

"Well Matthew, we're going to be showing how to repair computers, what do you think of that?"

"It sounds like a good idea to me. Lucky for you guys that I know how to repair computers - I should know after spending so much time working in the I.T. shops of the Toronto Transit Control system."

"Let's hope you didn't forget that stuff," chuckled Lisa as she slapped me on the back again, "otherwise Al is going have to explain everything on his own while you stand there like a tree."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," I groaned again, "now why don't you make like a tree and leave?"

Lisa only giggled as she walked off back to her workplace.

"Are you okay Matthew?" Sakura asked as she helped me back to my feet.

"Yeah I'm okay, now come on - let's get to work."

"Now you're talking," Al smiled.

The show had been a good one and everyone loved it, and no I did not forget how to fix computers, which was surprising considering that I haven't worked on repairing computers for over four years.

"Nice work you two," said Mr. Quinten, "today's show went through the roof, the ratings were high today, take a look."

Mr. Quinten showed us the chart and sure enough, today's episode had indeed gone through the roof. Both Al and I were quite shocked by the ratings, but we did say "all in a day's work," in front of Mr. Quinten.

As usual, Al stayed to help me clean up the set for the next day's show, then he set off for home.

"See ya tomorrow Matthew!" he called.

"See you tomorrow buddy!" I called back to him.

I was just about ready to walk out when I saw someone coming in, "I'm sorry but the show is over for today, come back tomorrow when we're on the air."

"Actually, I came here looking for you," said the voice.

"Megan?"

"The one and only," she said, "I was wondering if I could ask you for a small favour?"

"What kinda favour?"

"Just simple household repairs, Kaede said that you pretty good."

"Yes I am good - but I need to check in with Kaede, otherwise she'll start worrying," I pulled out my cellphone and called Kaede, "hi honey it's me, listen - Megan needs my help with some household repairs so I'll be a little late getting home, I hope that's okay."

"It's okay with me," she said with a happy tone in her voice, "what time do you think you'll be coming home?"

"I'm not sure..." I looked over to Megan, who showed one finger, "probably only an hour."

"Okay then," said Kaede on the other end of the phone, "I'll see you in an hour Matthew."

"Alright, I'll see you in an hour - I'll call you before I come home."

"Okay, talk to you later."

"Talk to you later Kaede, my queen."

I heard her giggle, then she hung up the phone. "Okay Megan, I'd be more than happy to help repair - ah, whatever is broken."

"Okay then, follow me."

I was soon working at Megan and Charlie's house, it was the pipes under the sink, they were cloaked with all sorts of garbage, "whoever lived here before probably didn't know how to take care of their own home."

"I was thinking the same thing when we moved in," Megan chuckled quietly.

I soon fixed the problem, all the pipes were cleared and now Megan could use the sink to wash all the dishes she had on the counter.

"Thank you so much Matthew," she smiled, "Charlie and I were tired eating out anyways."

"It's my pleasure, I can imagine that you guys miss eating home cooking - I know I would. Hey wait a minute, isn't Charlie suppose to be a handyman? He used to take the same courses I took back in high school like shop."

"Well to be honest, Charlie's forgotten all that, he's mostly been focused on...other things."

I looked back to Megan with a confused look, and that's when I noticed a huge bruise on her left shoulder (she was wearing one of those dresses that showed her shoulders).

"Megan, where did that bruise come from?"

"What bruise?" she looked, "oh no, I thought it would've gone away by now, oh shoot," and she ran out of the room.

As I waited in the kitchen, Naomi's words of warning came back to my mind, "_I still think you should be careful around Charlie._ _I just have this feeling that we can't trust him_..."

"Could she be right?" I thought to myself, "no, no she can't be right."

"Sorry about that, Matthew," said Megan as she walked back into the kitchen, "I just needed to care of something."

"Like changing into a new dress that hides your shoulders," I said with a worried look on my face, "Megan, is everything okay between you and Charlie?"

"Yeah sure, why wouldn't it?"

"For one, I saw that bruise on your shoulder and I think it's kinda weird that Charlie would forget about home repair, you guys have been away over five years, but if I know Charlie, he wouldn't forget something like that."

"Well he did."

"Megan, stop lying to me - what is going on with you and Charlie?"

Megan looked away for a seconds and walked over to the kitchen window, she looked outside several times then she looked back over to me.

"If I tell you, will you promise to keep it to yourself and not tell anyone?"

"I can't keep it secret from Kaede, but from everyone else - yes I will keep it quiet."

"Well, I guess it's okay if Kaede knows," Megan sighed, she looked outside one more time, then she looked back over to me and sighed unhappily, "Charlie - attacked me."

"What?" I asked in complete shock.

"Shortly after Alyssa was born, Charlie started attacking me because he was mad that his so called 'glory' days were over. He swore that Alyssa would be next, but I begged him not to hurt her. He promised he wouldn't and so...he attacked me again and again, the bruise on my left shoulder is most recent - two weeks ago."

"Megan, are you serious? Charlie Banks, the same guy who would never hurt a fly, he would attack you?"

"I'm serious, he's hurt me several times - he says it's because he wants to punish me for what happened."

"That bastard!" I snarled under my breath, "I can't believe he would do such a thing."

"Well he doesn't do that unless I say 'no', so I go along with everything he says and do as he wishes. He may act like a nice guy, but when it's just us, he will turn into a monster."

I felt like I was going to be sick, Naomi was right not to trust Charlie, he's a regular asshole.

"He hasn't tried to attack Alyssa has he?" I asked.

"Almost all the time, but I stop him everytime, that's how I got this bruise. I don't know what I would do if he hurts my little girl, I...I..." Megan couldn't say anymore, she burst into tears.

"It's okay Megan," I said calmly and walked over towards her, I then gave her a hug to help calm her down.

"I don't know what to do anymore," Megan groaned after another five minutes, "I can't let him hurt Alyssa..."

"Megan...here's my cellphone, keep it hidden in a safe place," I handed her my cellphone, she looked confused, "if Charlie tries anything, you get Alyssa and get to a safe place, call me and I'll come over to help."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, I can protect you two from Charlie, and I'm not alone, I have lots of friends who are police officers, they'll help too when that time comes, okay?"

"Okay," she said excepting my phone.

It was then we saw a car come into the driveway, it was Charlie's car. Megan went off downstairs to hide the phone, while I went back into the kitchen to get my tools.

"Hey Matthew," said Charlie as he stepped in, "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Well, I was asked to help repair those pipes. It's obvious that the last owners of the house didn't know how to take care of this house," I tried hard to act nice in front of him, I couldn't let him know that I knew his dark secret.

"I guess not," Charlie chuckled.

"Well, I better get going - I promised Kaede that I would go home after these repairs."

"Oh okay then, see you around buddy."

"Yeah, see you later," I waved to him as I walked off to my truck.

As soon as I got back to the house, I slammed my door hard and slammed my fist in the right side of the truck (oh boy did that ever hurt). I stayed outside for a couple of minutes before I finally walked inside.

"Hi Matthew," Kaede called as she walked over towards me, "is something wrong?"

"There is," I sighed, "Kaede, there's something I need to talk to you about - I can only tell you about it in our room, I don't want anyone else hearing about this..."

So Kaede followed me back to our bedroom, she then closed the door and I told her everything that Megan had told me. By the time I had finished, Kaede was just shocked, she looked like she was about to throw up.

"I can't believe it," she said quietly, "I can't believe Charlie would do that."

"Well you better believe it, cause it's for real."

"Well - why didn't Megan tell the police about Charlie?"

"You know I really have no idea why she wouldn't turn Charlie in," I sighed, "I'm still surprised by all of this - Little Sis was right again."

Later on that night, Kaede and I were sleeping happily - that was until we heard the phone ring. Kaede was the one who got up, "I wonder who would call this early in the morning," she said as she picked up the phone, "hello?"

I knew who it was, I knew it was Megan. I quickly got out of bed, changed into my jeans and grabbed my sword (the king's sword) from the nightstand.

"Megan? What's wrong? What's Charlie doing?"

"Kaede," I whispered to her, "tell Megan I'm on my way."

"Okay - take my cellphone," Kaede grabbed her cellphone and gave it to me.

"Thanks Kaede," and with that, I ran out of the bedroom and down the stairs (as carefully as I could), then I hurried over to the doorway, slipped into my shoes and ran out to my truck.

My truck started up perfectly this time, so I wasted no time in rushing off to Megan's house. I then called Damon's office number, "I sure hope you're in tonight Damon," I thought to myself.

Thankfully he was, "Hello?" came the reply on the other end.

"Damon it's Matthew, we got trouble at one of my friend's houses," I then told him the situation and the address, "get all your friends together and get there as quickly as you can."

"Right, I'll get on it right away - I'll meet you there."

"Okay Damon," I said, then I hung up the phone and pushed down on the puddle even more, "dammit Charlie, I can't believe you would sink this low. If you harm Megan or Alyssa, you'll be sorry you ever did that."

I continued to race at the speed limit until I finally reached the house. I shut off the engine and raced off for the house with my sword in hand...

Inside the house, Megan and Alyssa were in the basement while Charlie pounded on the locked door, trying to get at them.

"What is daddy doing?" Alyssa asked nervously.

"He's just not being himself dear," Megan said soothingly, "don't be scared okay?"

Just then, they heard loud gun shots - Charlie had shot the hinges and the door handle off with the rifle. He then marched downstairs looking angry, "You told him didn't you?" he shouted at Megan.

"So what if I did, he had a right to know."

"He had no right to know and you know it Megan! Now I have to silence you before you reveal anymore of my secrets...the only question is - which one of you two should I get rid of first."

"Charlie, let Alyssa go - she's no threat to you."

"She is a threat to me, she's a witness - I can't have any witnesses."

"How could you be so cold hearted? You used to be a kind hearted man - you promised me that you would help me take care of Alyssa and promised to remain by my side forever. What happened to that Charlie?"

"He's gone," Charlie said angerily, "he was destoryed the day you said you were pregnant," he then snickered, "with you and Alyssa gone, I can relive those glory days again."

"You're not going to get away with this!" Megan snapped.

"Oh but I will - I will tell everyone that someone barged into our house and killed you two before I could get my gun. Everyone will believe that..."

"Not everyone!" Charlie looked to his left and saw who said that, it was me. I had my blade on his left shoulder, it glowed light blue (like it always does when I hold it), "I know your story Charlie and I'm not going to let you hurt your wife and daughter."

"Really?" Charlie asked, for the first time he showed me an evil smile on his face, "and what's to stop me from turning around right now and getting rid of you too?"

"Try it and I'll drop you where you stand!" I said back firmly, "so don't you try. Oh and just to let you know, my buddy Damon Drake and his friends of the police department are waiting outside to take you down - so don't you try to escape!"

"So this is how it goes - you betray me just like that."

"I was hoping I didn't have to. I don't know what happened to you Charlie Banks, it's like Megan said, you used to be a kind hearted man and now look at you - you've become a monster."

"I am not a monster, I just want what is mine! I'm going to get it all back with a couple of..."

"Like I said, try it and I'll drop you right where you stand!" I then looked over to Megan and Alyssa, "get out now while you have a chance, I'll be coming up soon."

"No, they stay," Charlie snickered.

"I don't think so...now you two, go!"

And that's just what they did, they walked past us while looking worried. Once they had walked out of the basement, Charlie turned around and gave me that same evil look from before.

"Don't you dare try anything Charlie Banks! I happen to hold the king's sword, it's a better weapon of choice than your damn gun!"

"It's not too late Matthew, just lower your weapon and walk away from my house, then I'll sneak out the backway and to freedom again. I want to be 'Wild Dog' again."

"Too bad you're not going to get that chance! You're going to jail Charlie, that's where monsters like you belong. You were once a harmless 'wild dog', but now you've turned into a monster - I will never let you hurt your wife and daughter."

"Matthew?" called another voice, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah Damon, I'm okay! Charlie's all yours!"

Damon and five other officers came downstairs with guns drawn. I lowered my blade and put it back in it's case.

"Charlie Banks," Damon said firmly, "you're under arrest, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held aganist you in a court of law."

"Gagnon!" Charlie shouted, "Help me - please!"

"Get him out of here," I said firmly.

Charlie gasped when he heard that, then he snarled crossly, "this isn't over Matthew Gagnon, not by a long shot - I'll get even with you someday..."

"No you won't Charlie, you'll always lose the fight and end going back to where you belong - jail! I'm hoping that you'll go back to the Charlie Banks I once knew - till then, I don't ever want to see you again."

The officers hauled Charlie out of the basement, he put up a fight - so they had to taze him.

I followed them out of the basement, right to where Megan and Alyssa were waiting.

"Oh Matthew," Megan said quietly, "Thank you so much, I don't know how I'll be able to repay you."

"Just take care of that sweet little girl okay?"

"Okay," she nodded happily.

"Oh and if you ever need any help or just want to talk, you know where we live."

Megan nodded happily again, then Alyssa spoke up, "thank you for saving us Matty," she said in a cute way.

"You're welcome," I smiled, then I waved to them as I headed off back to my truck. I started up the engine, then I drove off back to the house, groaning to myself, "what a night!"

I soon returned home, Primula, Naomi and Daisy were still asleep at this time. Kaede was the only one awake when I came home. She was sitting on our bed, she was looking worried.

"Are you okay Matthew?"

"Yeah Kaede, I'm okay," I then carefully placed my sword back on it's stand, "I didn't have to fight this time." I then told Kaede of what happened back at Megan's house, "don't worry though, Charlie's in jail now, I don't think he's going to cause anymore trouble for Megan and his daughter."

"I hope you're right Matthew."

I then got changed out of my jeans and back into my pajama pants. Once I was changed back into my pajamas, I got back into bed and layed down at my usual spot of the bed. Kaede then layed down right on top of me.

"I'm happy to know that you're okay Matthew, I was worried about you."

"I'm sorry Kaede, I didn't mean to worry you," as I was saying this, I rubbed her back gently and ran my fingers threw her hair, "feeling better now?"

"Yeah," she smiled then she let out a huge yawn, "I'll see you in the morning."

"I'll see you in the morning," I said to her, I then gave her a wink like I always do, she giggled happily, "I love you Kaede."

"And I love you too Matthew."

Kaede was the first to close her eyes and went off to sleep, I stayed awake for a couple more minutes just watching her sleep, "she looks so cute when she sleeps," I thought happily to myself, "but of course she is _always_ looks cute and beautiful too."

With that happy thought in my mind, I closed my eyes and went to sleep - dreaming about dancing with Kaede in a sunflower field while the song 'I Swear' by 'John Michael Montgomery' played.


	7. Childhood Memories

Here now is the latest installment of 'Our Kinda Life', I kinda ran out of ideas after the sixth episode, but now I have plenty of ideas to work with and here now is one of those ideas. I don't have much to say about this episode, mostly because I don't want to reveal too much right now. Anyways, the rating isn't PG anymore for there is some swearing included and there will be some cute moments coming up too. Anyhow, without further ado - here's episode 7! Enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 7: Childhood Memories**_

The excitment sure was starting to build up once again for us, first was Asa's pregnancy and then finding out that Charlie Banks has turned a monster, and not forgetting that Itsuki proposed to Mayumi. Plus, Al and I are doing twice as many demostrations on Tech Corner, which was true for Tuesday May 24th.

Which is probably why I was more than happy to return back to the house. This time around, Kaede didn't come to the door, but Daisy did.

"Hi Matt, how was your day?"

"It was okay," I answered, "Although I'm working harder than ever before now, I've only been back for two days and yet I feel like I haven't taken a single day off in months."

"It's that rough huh?"

"Yeah it's that rough. Daisy, have you seen my wife by any chance?"

"Yeah, she's up in your room right now, she went up there a while ago with a basket of clothes."

"Thanks Daisy," I smiled.

Daisy then walked off back to the living room, my guess was that that's where she was doing her homework. As for yours truely, I was now walking up the stairs. Once I got up to the top step, I could see Naomi standing outside of my bedroom door.

"Hey Little Sis, what are you up to?"

"I'm just helping Kaede put your clothes away - and we found something in your closet you need to explain about."

I wasn't quite sure what Naomi meant, so I walked into the bedroom. There was Kaede, she was looking nervous as she stood near a box outside of the closet.

"Matthew...you're not thinking about moving away are you?" she asked me nervously.

"Of course not," I answered, then I looked back to Naomi, "I thought I asked you not to say those kinds of things in front of Kaede."

"Sorry," she groaned quietly.

I sighed deeply, then I walked into the bedroom and over to the box, "Kaede, I'm not going to move out," I said calmly to her, she sighed with relief, "to be honest with you, I had completely forgotten about this box."

I removed the tape off the lid of the box and looked inside, "and I was wondering if I brought this stuff with me when I moved here. This box is full of my belongings I brought from my old house - I guess I forgot to unpack it."

"What is in that box?" Naomi asked.

"Just a few blankets, pillow covers and some books..."

"And a really old blanket too," Naomi reached into the box and pulled out a small yellow blanket that was about half my height. The small yellow blanket was torn with some holes in it, plus it had a white boarder on the top that looked like it was about to fall off, "why didn't you get rid of this thing?" she asked.

"I could never get rid of this blanket, it's been mine since I was just a baby. Despite all the bad moments with my parents, I've got lots of great memories with this thing," I was holding onto the blanket, it reminded me alot of when I was younger, "when I was younger, it used to sit on top of my pillow as I slept, and it sometimes acted like a cape when I was playing superhero..." I looked down to Naomi, she had that teasing look on her face, "that was a long time ago," I said as I threw the old blanket into the closet, "it still holds all the good memories of my past...the few good memories I can still remember."

I went back to unpacking the box, then I broke it up and took it downstairs.

Later that night, I wasn't feeling sleepy, so I was standing outside of the bedroom on the balcony and looking up to the stars.

"Are you okay Matthew?"

I looked over to my left side and saw who had called out to me, it was Kaede, she was in her pajamas at this time, "yeah I'm okay Kaede, I'm just not feeling tired at the moment."

Kaede stepped out onto the balcony and closed the door, then she stood next to me as we looked up to the night sky.

"I really wish I could remember everything about my childhood, but apart from the few memories I do have, my past is nothing more than a blank."

"I'm sure you'll get those memories back someday, just be patient."

"Yeah you're right there Kaede, but I have to know - did Little Sis make fun of me after seeing that blanket?"

"No, why would you think that Naomi would make fun of you?"

"Ah...you know, I really don't know why. I remember when I was younger, I was always worried about what someone would say if they saw that blanket, maybe that was true when Little Sis saw that blanket."

"I don't think Naomi would fun of you just because you have that blanket, I think she knows how you feel."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yeah, I do," she said sweetily, she then let out a huge yawn, which was followed by a big yawn from me, "are you ready to go back to bed Matthew?"

"I'm ready," I smiled.

We then walked back to the bedroom while we were holding hands.

The next morning, Kaede was still sleeping at around seven thirty while I had just finished getting changed. She was snoring softly as she layed there, she also showed that trademark smile she always shows. I smiled as I walked over to the bed and sat down beside her, I then rubbed her left shoulder gently, (she was sleeping on her right side, which is the same position she slept in all night long).

At last, she opened her eyes and looked back over to me, "good morning my king."

"Good morning my queen," I whispered back to her, she then looked over to the clock, "it's seven thirty one right now, you kinda slept in again. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry," she said kindly, "I'm not mad."

"Are you sure, cause I know you like to get up at four thirty."

"Yes I'm sure, it's okay," she said with a happy tone in her voice.

She then reached out her left hand and I grabbed it softly with both of my hands, I held her hand in between both of my hands, then I kissed her hand. She started blushing and not once did that cute smile go away. We stayed still and looking into each other's eyes for a minute and a half, then after that minute and a half, Kaede got up from the bed and walked over to the closet to get one of her shirts, then she walked over to the dresser for the rest of her clothes.

Once she had changed into the clothes she wanted to wear today, we walked along side by side down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Al and I talked about computer systems and what kinda programs you can use to keep them from crashing. This went on all day up to when the show was done for the day when we cleaned up and closed up for the night.

"Hey Al," I said to him, "do you have problems with remembering moments from your past, like maybe when you were a kid?"

"At times yes, why?"

"Well, I'm asking because I can't remember alot of moments from when I was a kid. I remember a few moments, but other than that - I don't remember any other childhood memories."

"Well maybe it has a lot to do with some unhappy moments from your childhood."

"That would be almost every day," I groaned quietly, "I never had an easy childhood at all, I was bullied, teased and I was always alone."

"Yes I am well aware of that," Al said as kindly as he could, "Just be patient Matthew and you'll get your memories back."

"Yeah you're probably right. Kaede told me the same thing last night."

"She's a smart woman," Al smiled, "Well I better get going, I promised Sana that I would come home early tonight. I'll see you tomorrow Matthew!"

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow Al!" I called to him.

He got into his '57 Chevy and drove off. I walked over to the truck and unlocked the doors - I stood there in silence for a short period of time, reason being was that I was getting a memory back and it wasn't a good one...

_"Oh what's the matter Gagnon? Are you going to cry? You're such a baby!"_

_ "I'm not! Now leave me alone!"_

_ "You wish, I'll keep bugging you for as long as I want to."_

_ "Oh no you won't..."_

I finally snapped back to reality, I groaned quietly as I leaned aganist my truck, "oh my gosh, I can't believe it...it can't be true."

I didn't want to think about it anymore, so I opened the door, climbed in, turned on the engine, then I drove off back to the house. Now I was wishing that one memory didn't come back.

I put in another one of my Mix Music CDs and cranked the radio up as the song 'Could Have Fooled Me' by 'Adam Gregory' started playing.

Throughout the rest of the night, I was unusually quiet, I didn't say much at all. Kaede had seen that look on my face a few times before and knew something was bugging me.

So later that night (After dinner), she came up to our room to speak to me. I was on the Sodor Island Forums talking with my friends again when she came up.

"I remember...I remember," I said quietly.

"What do you remember Matthew?"

"Moments from I was a kid, terrible moments."

Kaede walked over to the bed and sat down (just for the record, the computer desk stands next to our dresser, which sits in front of our bed), I swung my chair round so that I was talking to her, face to face.

"When I was younger, I used to get bullied and teased none stop by a few dozen bullies, one such bully would never leave me alone and continued to taunt me everyday - to him, it was a great joke, but one day..." I paused for a few seconds then I continued, "I finally had enough and snapped at the guy. I...pushed him and he banged his head in the door and fell flat on his back hard."

Kaede gasped when she heard that, but remained quiet as I continued to talk to her.

"He was okay, just a little battered. Once he got back to his feet, he ran off in fear, it was clear to see that he didn't want to tease me anymore. From that day onwards, he never teased me again - but that didn't stop other bullies from teasing and bullying me. However, after that day when I stood up for myself, whenever I faced a bully - well, let's just say that walking away was no longer an option. I would fight them everytime they got me angry. It's no wonder why I always got myself into trouble."

Finally, Kaede spoke up, "when did that happen?"

"It happened when I was in the first grade. At least I now know why I have such a quick temper whenever someone bullies us or our friends, or even when someone does something stupid. I don't know what brought those memories back...now I wish I didn't get them back. Dammit!"

I apologized quickly as I didn't like swearing in front of Kaede.

I was once again silent, I was also looking down to the floor with a sad look on my face. Then I felt Kaede's sweet right hand holding onto my left hand while her left hand held onto my right hand, she then rubbed her thumbs on my hands gently.

"It's okay Matthew," she said kindly, "that was a long time ago, okay? You've changed since you were a kid - you grew up into the mature man you are today."

I didn't need to ask her if she meant every word she said, I knew Kaede was right and she meant every word.

Kaede got up from the bed and leaned forwards towards me, her lips were getting closer to mine - our lips soon connected as we kissed. We kissed for a minute and a half before we seperated, our cheeks were blushing a small shade of red and our hands were still holding onto each other.

"Thanks Kaede, I really needed to hear that," I said quietly.

She smiled at me again, "I'd do anything to help cheer you up Matthew, just like when you cheer me up."

We both got up, then we hugged each other for a couple of minutes, I was feeling much better after hearing Kaede's kind words. After our hug, I talked with my friends for a couple more minutes, then after logging off and shutting down my computer, I walked with Kaede back downstairs.

The next afternoon, after coming from a long day at work, I came home - only to find Rin's van parked outside of our house.

Once inside, I took my worn out running shoes off and walked over to the kitchen, Kaede was there and so was Rin and Asa, "hey you two, what's going on?"

"Well," said Rin, "Asa and I are going to get married in three weeks and I was wondering if..."

"I could be your best man right?" I asked, Rin nodded in shock, "don't look so surprised Rin, I've been asked to be the best man at lots of weddings already."

Kaede giggled quietly as she stood near the counter. I walked over to the counter and over to where she was, I then wrapped my arms around her and held her close to me. Kaede smiled and wrapped her arms around me.

"How cute," Asa smiled quietly.

Naomi came into the kitchen and noticed us hugging, she was going to say something (being who she is, she likes to joke around), but she never got the chance as Daisy slapped her hand over her mouth.

"Shut up Naomi," she said firmly.

Naomi only grunted as she looked over to Daisy.

"I need to remember that one," chuckled Monty as he came into the kitchen.

After the hug, Kaede went back to washing the dishes while I went over to the fridge to get something to drink.

"Ah Matt," Daisy called over to me, "is it okay if Monty and I go out to see a movie? We've completed our homework a few minutes ago."

"Sure Daisy, you guys can go see a movie - what time do you two expect to be back?"

"Probably two and a half hours," said Monty quietly, "depending on how long the movie is."

"Okay then," I smiled, "have fun you two."

"We will," they cried in unison and headed for the front door.

Naomi went off to the living room to watch one of her favourite shows, (I don't know the name of it), while the rest of us discussed about Asa and Rin's upcoming wedding.

Later that night, I was reading another new Extended Railway Series book when Kaede came into my room, she had something that she wanted to show me.

"My parents gave me this when I was just a baby," she smiled as she showed me it.

I gasped when I saw it, it was a light blue blanket that looked so close to my yellow blanket, only hers wasn't torn in certain places. I walked over to the closet and pulled out my old yellow blanket.

"That's something else we have in common," I said quietly, "we both had small little blankets which helped us sleep at night, then we tried keeping them a secret from our friends."

Kaede continued to smile as she nodded her head.

"If you would like Matthew, I could fix your blanket up and make it as good as new."

"I would like that, thank you Kaede."

I handed my old blanket over to Kaede, then she got out her knitting kit and started to sow up the holes in my old blanket while I chatted with my friends for a while.

Within minutes, my old yellow blanket looked as good as new once again.

"What do you think Matthew? Did I do a good job?"

"You did a fantastic job Kaede, it really does look like it's brand new," I looked over to her and showed her my smile. I got up from my computer chair and walked over to the bed, then I placed my yellow blanket on top of Kaede's pillow. She smiled as she watched me, then she got up from the bed and walked over to my end of the bed, then she placed her light blue blanket on top of my pillow.

"We do have a lot in common," I smiled.

"We do," Kaede smiled in agreement.

She then walked over towards me and gave me another hug, I wrapped my arms around her as I hugged her back. We stood there for a while, then after the hug, Kaede went off to take a bath.

"I'll be back soon okay?"

"Okay Kaede," I smiled.

Kaede stood there in the doorway for ten seconds, then she blew me a kiss. She then winked and walked out of the bedroom and over to the washroom.

I walked back over to the computer to read another volume of the Extended Railway Series.

Twenty minutes later, I had logged off the forums and shut down my computer and now I was resting on our bed and watching 'Disorderly Conduct' on our TV, which happens to be a 27' inch screen television, while I waited for Kaede to return.

After another minute or so, Kaede came into the bedroom with a green towel wrapped around herself and another one on top of her head. She walked over to the bed and sat down next to me on my right side.

"Matthew, can I ask you something?"

"Sure Kaede, what is it?"

"When you were a kid, after you were done taking a bath, did you..."

"Want to stay in for as long as I wanted?" I asked, I knew what she was going to ask. Kaede nodded her head, not looking surprised at all, I think she knew that I knew, "yes Kaede, I did feel like that when I was younger, why do you ask?"

"I was just curious," she smiled, "I hope you don't mind if I ask these kinds of questions?"

"I don't mind if you ask me Kaede, you have every right to know everything about me."

I then moved slightly to the left so that Kaede could lie down next to me. Before that though, she took the towel on her head off, then she layed down right next to me.

She then whispered to me, "could we sleep...naked tonight?"

I looked down to her and smiled, "sure Kaede, we can sleep naked tonight."

Kaede smiled when I gave her my answer.

So at around nine thirty, I got up from the bed and walked over to the door, locking it with the new locks I installed after we got married, just for nights like this. Then I got out of my clothes while Kaede removed the towel she had wrapped around her.

I got into bed first, then Kaede came over and layed down on top of me. Her sweet blue eyes looked into my blue eyes, our cheeks were going red as we blushed - we closed our eyes, her lips came closer and closer to mine until her lips were touching mine and we were kissing again. I had my arms wrapped around her as I held her close to me, while she had both of her hands on my shoulders.

After three minutes of kissing, I went to grab her orange blanket (that sat on our bed), but I never got it because Kaede stopped my hand from getting it.

"What's wrong Kaede?"

"Could we sleep - without the blanket on top of us tonight?" she asked me sweetily, "please?"

"Sure Kaede," I answered happily, "no blanket tonight. It'll be just like our honeymoon."

"Yeah," she smiled and kissed me on the lips for the second time tonight. We kissed for five minutes (yes, it is possible to kiss for five minutes), I asked, "Kaede, would you like to hear me sing another song?"

"Yes please."

"Okay then," I reached over to the shelves that sat beside our bed and grabbed my Ipod, I searched the list while Kaede plugged in one end of the earplugs into her right ear, "Okay Kaede, here's a song just for you."

I pressed the play button and the song 'I Will Stand By You' by 'High Valley' started up.

_I will never back down from a good fair fight_

_ I will find my way threw the darkest of night_

_ No, I will never feel wrong for doing what is right_

_ I Will Stand By You_

_ I will never run from what I believe_

_ I am stronger when I'm on my knees_

_ I'm ready as I'll ever be_

_ I Will Stand By You_

_ Now I can't carry the world on my shoulders_

_ This I know is true_

_ Though if you need me_

_ I will be there_

_ Know that I will stand by You_

_ Come on!_

_ Let the walls fall down_

_ I will shelter you_

_ When the seas rise up_

_ I will rise up too_

_ (Rise Up Too)_

_ No Matter what happens_

_ I'll know what to do_

_ I will Stand By You_

_ Now I can't carry the world on my shoulders_

_ This I know is true_

_ Though if you need me_

_ I will be there_

_ Know that I will stand by You_

_ I'm a man of faith that's unshakeable_

_ I may bend but I'm unbreakable_

_ You Can Count on Me_

_ I will never back down from a good fair fight_

_ I will find my way threw the darkest of night_

_ No, I will never feel wrong for doing what is right_

_ I Will Stand By You_

_ I Will Stand by You_

_ I will Stand..._

_ Now I can't carry the world on my shoulders_

_ This I know is true_

_ Though if you need me_

_ I will be there_

_ And I will stand by You_

_ I Will Stand By You_

Kaede was still smiling after I sang that song, she waited until I had caught my breath before she kissed me on the lips for the third time that night, she didn't need to say anything, I knew she liked listening to that song.

"Are you comfortable Kaede?" I asked after we were done kissing.

She nodded her head happily, "I'll see you in the morning Matthew."

"And I'll see you in the morning Kaede," I said as I gave her the usual wink, she giggled happily as she always does.

"Good night Matthew," she whispered quietly and closed her eyes.

"Good night Kaede," I whispered back quietly to her.

I ran my fingers threw her soft orange hair while I rubbed her back gently with my other hand, she was snoring softly again and still showing her trademark smile. Then very softly I whispered, "I love you," to Kaede. Then I closed my eyes and went off to sleep.


	8. Naomi's Secret

It's been quite a long time since Naomi got any episodes to herself, so here now is the first part of a special triple package of episodes in this series about her and another new character. As recalled back in 'My Kinda Life', Naomi never had an easy life with her rotten parents as they tortured her and made her their slave, now in the episode, we discover that Naomi wasn't the only one to escape from her rotten parents, but for now I can't reveal anything, you'll have to read the story to find out. Now the rating of this episode is 'M' for there is some swearing included. Also note that in the first paragraph of this episode, it's in third person narration and again when Naomi tells her story, the rest of this episode is all first person narration by 'Matthew'.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 8: Naomi's Secret**_

It seemed like a long day on May 27th 2011 for Naomi, Shiori and the rest of their classmates, but at long last, school was over for the day and now the two girls, Naomi and Shiori, were walking along to Naomi's home.

"I'm worn out," Naomi groaned quietly, "school sure is brutal."

"I have to agree with you there Naomi," said Shiori, then she noticed her best friend was looking upset, "is something wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong Shiori, I'm fine," deep down though, Naomi wasn't fine at all, "I miss him so much," she thought unhappily to herself, "I sure hope he's okay - I'll never forgive those rotten parents of mine if they..."

"Naomi," Shiori's voice interupted Naomi's thoughts, "are you sure everything is okay?"

"Yes I'm fine," she said while showing a smile, "I just have a lot on my mind," then she said, "I am a lucky girl Shiori, I used to live with two rotten parents who treated me like a slave - and yet look at me now, I'm just like any other girl, I go to school, I get to go home to a family that loves me and I have wonderful friends too. I always dreamed about having this kind of life, but I never thought it would come true."

"You are a lucky girl Naomi, I've heard stories about children who don't that chance because of _their_ rotten parents."

"Yeah, I've heard those stories too, I am enterily grateful to Big Sis, Big Bro and Kaede for what they did - I only wish he was..."

"What?"

"Oh, it's nothing Shiori, I'm just lost in my own little world again - I guess I got more on my mind than I had thought."

It wasn't long before Naomi and Shiori arrived at the Fuyou/Gagnon house.

"I would like to hang out with you tonight Naomi, but I promised Yukie that I would come home early tonight."

"Okay then - so, I'll see you later Shiori."

"Yep, I'll see you later Naomi!" and with that said, Shiori walked away.

Naomi stood there in complete silence, she was thinking back to those terrible days, she didn't like that, "I wish I could forget those days," she said quietly to herself, "except my memories of...him."

She then pushed the gate open, then after closing it, she walked up the sidewalk and into the house.

An hour after dinner, Kaede and I were walking into the kitchen to begin work on cleaning up the dishes. As we came into the kitchen, we could see Naomi sitting at the table alone. She stared down at the table with the same sad look she had when we first met her.

"Is something wrong Naomi?" Kaede asked kindly.

"No, nothing's wrong," she answered sadly.

"You're lying," I said firmly, "sorry Little Sis, but I can tell when someone is lying and you are doing that right now. It's not good to lie you know..."

It was then that I heard someone cry, and that someone was Naomi, floods of tears poured down from her eyes.

"Hey Naomi, I'm sorry if I made you cry," I said as I got down till I reached Naomi's height, "I didn't mean any harm."

"That's not why I'm crying," Naomi sobbed sadly, then she burst into tears once more, crying her eyes out.

Daisy, Monty, Primula and Max could hear all the crying from the living room and were now coming into the kitchen to see who was crying. Primula walked over to Naomi and gave her a small hug, while Daisy got her some tissues to wipe her tears away.

"Why is she crying?" Max asked.

"I don't know," I answered.

Naomi continued to cry for another three minutes before she finally calmed down, "I'll tell you why I'm crying," she sniffed sadly, "I'm crying because I miss a certain person."

"And who would that be?" Monty asked kindly.

"Lance...my older brother."

"YOUR OLDER BROTHER!" this shout came from all of us in the room. For as long as we have known Naomi, we never knew that she had an older brother.

"Yes, my older brother."

"Why didn't you tell us about him?" Primula asked.

"I don't know why I didn't tell you guys about him, but now I wish I had. Lance was the only other person who cared about me and he wasn't afraid to stand up aganist our rotten parents. Now, I have told you guys everything that happened to me, and now I think this is a good time to tell you about him - if you want to hear about him."

"Of course we would," Kaede said kindly.

"We all would," I said kindly too.

Naomi sighed and began to tell us everything...

Lance was Naomi's older brother, he was about two years older than she was and he was the first to be bullied and tortured by his parents, but no matter what they did to him, he would never show them he was scared or cry, he would stand up for himself and refuse to do any of their requests.

One night, Naomi was sitting alone in a rundown closet space, that was until her father came in with Lance, he was battered and bruised badly.

"Remember this Naomi, if you go aganist our orders, then you will get the same punishment as this piece of crap," he then let go of Lance's ruined shirt, making him fall to the floor, "do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," she groaned.

Her father only snickered as he walked out of the room, "good, now I'll leave you two slaves alone," and still snickering, he walked out of the closet area and back over to the rundown living room.

"Lance? Are you okay?" Naomi asked kindly as she walked over towards him.

"I'm fine," he chuckled, "I've been through worse I can tell you that."

"Why Lance? Why do you fight aganist them?"

Lance only chuckled, "I fight...just to those assholes that they are not the bosses of us, and I apologize for swearing in front of you Naomi, I know you don't like hearing that."

Naomi helped Lance over to his bed, he had been badly beaten and had no energy left, but he was still able to walk over to his bed.

"Plus, I fight them - because I want to give them a taste of their own medicine. You know that little bruise on dad's left arm? Well - that was my handy work, I kicked him right in the arm."

Naomi sighed unhappily as she sat down on her worn out matress, "I wish I was as brave as you Lance, then maybe I can stand up to them too."

"Ah, you better leave the standing up to our parents to me Naomi," Lance chuckled, "I have a lot more experience dealing with them than you have. Plus," he spoke seriously to her, "I don't want to lose the only sister I have, I care about you too much to see you get hurt by...those losers," he quickly corrected himself, "and anyways you are brave Naomi, just being yourself."

"Oh Lance," the two siblings got up and hugged each other at that moment.

Although she wasn't happy to be living with a rotten family, she was happy to have a brother like Lance.

"Now I want you to listen to me carefully," Lance whispered to her, "we're going to make our escape in a few days."

"What?"

"That's right Naomi, you heard me right, we're going to make our escape, we're going to get away from all of this, start a whole new life together, never having to worry about anything ever again - what do you say to that?"

"Well I like the idea, but can it be done?"

"It can, we just need the right moment to run. I'm going to promise you here and now, I will not leave without you Naomi, we go together - okay?"

"Okay Lance."

A few days later, they were ready to leave the rundown house, and they would've - had it not been for the parents. They told Lance to do scrub the floor with a brush, "I don't think so assholes," he snapped crossly at them.

"What did you just say?" the father asked.

"You heard me right, I don't think so...ASSHOLES!" he shouted loudly, "I am rufusing to do any of your housework, especially in a crapshak like this."

"Do your work, or else!"

"Go ahead, you'll be sorry one of these days," Lance snickered.

His father grabbed the boy by his right arm and dragged him back to the living room. Naomi could hear everything and was hoping that Lance would be okay.

"Now do your work you little freak," snapped the father a few minutes later, he threw Lance to the floor hard. Lance only groaned as he looked up to his father, he was bleeding badly and had no strength to get up.

"Like I...said, you'll...be sorry...one of these days...you asshole!"

The Father grumbled loudly and walked away from the room, "I'll be back - once I have my extension cord!"

"Lance," Naomi whispered as she walked over to her brother, "Are you okay?"

"Fine, I'm fine," he said while showing a smile, "Naomi, this is our chance, we're leaving."

"But you're injuried..."

"I know, but if we don't escape now, then it's lights out for one of us and I'm not going to let that happen - so what do you say, Little Sis?"

Naomi looked at her brother with a strange look on her face, she had never heard her older brother call her that before. Her shocked expression didn't last long as she looked down to her brother, "I'm ready, Big Bro."

Naomi helped Lance back to his feet, she told him to put his left arm on her shoulders for support.

"Can you walk?"

"I'll manage," he answered.

They walked slowly out of the room and out to the doorway, it was lucky for them that neither one of their parents were coming after them. They were soon outside and walking along the dirty grassy field towards the gate. Lance opened the lock of the gate, then they walked out to the city streets.

"Your dreams are about to come true Lance," Naomi smiled as they walked along, "we'll be free from our parents and we can start our new life."

"Not yet..." Lance groaned as he fell to the ground.

"Lance! What's wrong?"

"I guess that son of a b...baka," he corrected himself, "took every ounce of my strength away."

"Lance..."

"Naomi my baby sister, I need you to be brave right here and now - I need you to run, run and don't look back," Naomi was going to protest, that was until she heard her father's loud yell in the distance, "go now Naomi."

"Not without you," Naomi said with determination, "I'm not leaving you."

"You're gonna have to, don't you worry about me, I'll be fine - I'll only slow you down. Good luck with your life Naomi, now go!"

Naomi didn't want to leave her one and only brother, but she also didn't want to argue with him, so she took off as fast as her little legs could carry her.

"Don't worry Little Sis," Lance called, "we'll meet up again someday, I promise you that!"

"I ran and ran none stop," Naomi continued, "that was until I came to that beach - and the rest you guys know about."

When she had finished telling us, Daisy and Monty both had tears in their eyes while Primula, Max and Kaede all had sad looks on their faces. As for me, well - I was angry, but I felt it was best not to say anything, I didn't want to upset Naomi anymore than she already was.

"The real reason why I'm crying," Naomi said while small tears appeared in her eyes again, "is because I don't know what happened to Lance after I left him, I don't know if my dad got to him or if he escaped. I don't know if he's...he's...alive!" she cried as she burst into tears once more.

I got up from my chair and walked out of the room, Kaede ran along behind me.

"Those stupid bakas!" I snapped angerily, "honestly, they make me sick to my stomach."

"I know how you feel," Kaede said as she walked over towards me, "I can't understand why they did what they did."

"I don't understand it either," I groaned, then I spoke in a calmer voice, "I'm going to try and find Little Sis' brother - I won't stop until I find him."

Kaede smiled as soon as she heard me say that, "That's really sweet of you Matthew, I think that will make Naomi very happy."

"It won't be easy, but I won't give up."

The next morning, I was in Damon's office talking with him about what Naomi said last night, "so that's why I'm looking for Lance, I want to make Little Sis happy again."

"I understand perfectly," Damon smiled, "it's a real sweet thing you're doing."

"Yeah Kaede told me the same thing last night."

"And she's right."

"Damon, I need to ask you for a small favour. Could you ask Naomi's screwball parents if they know what happened to Lance?"

"Sure thing Matthew, I'll be back in a minute."

Damon walked out of the office and over to another part of the police station where the prisoners were. All the time I was waiting, I was hoping that Lance was still alive and that those two bastards hadn't killed him.

It was another ten minutes before Damon returned, "Sorry about the long wait Matthew, but those two were being a little stubborn today and refused to answer any of my questions at first, but I did get the answer you want - they never got to Lance, one of their neighbours from three doors to the left of the house took him in."

"Thanks Damon - oh and I have to know, what is their last name?"

"Livington, that's their last name, didn't Naomi tell you?"

"No, she never said that - I guess it's because it's too painful for her to talk about."

"It could be," he then spoke seriously to me, "good luck Matthew, I hope you find him."

"Thanks Damon, I owe you one."

"Ah, you owe me nothing," he smiled.

Luckily for me, the neighbour that saved Lance was still living at that house and he told me what happened to Lance. He told me that he took Lance to the Lucky Child orphanage after he had recovered. Once I got that bit of information, I drove off to the orphanage.

Once there, I walked inside the building and over to the front desk, "excuse me, I was wondering if I could talk with the manager of this place."

"Of course sir, she's in her office just down the hallway, first door on your right, I'll call her and let her know you want to see her."

"Thank you very much," I said as I walked down the hallway.

It was only a minute walk from the front desk to the manager's office, as I walked along, I saw a few young children standing close by, some were happy and others weren't.

"Will you adopte us?" they all asked me.

I didn't answer them back, I didn't want to hurt their feelings at all. At last, I reached the manager's office, "hello there, are you Mr. Gagnon?"

"Yes that's me," I said as I walked into the office, "and before you ask, yes I am the host of 'Tech Corner'."

The manager chuckled quietly, "yes, I thought you looked familar. So Mr. Gagnon, from what I've been told, you wanted to talk to me about a child named Lance."

"Yes ma'am, and I would like to thank you for taking some time out of your busy schedule to talk to me. I am looking for a teenage boy named Lance Livington."

"And why are you looking for him?"

"I'm looking for him because of his baby sister, she's worried about him and wonders if he's alive."

"Would her name happen to be Naomi?"

"Yes, that's her."

"Lance used to talk about his baby sister throughout the entire year he was here, he often talked about her and wondered if she was okay and if she found a perfect place to call home."

"She's fine, she was adopted by my wife's father over a year ago after we saved her and now she's living with us, plus our two other sisters, Primula and my sister Daisy. Now getting back to what we were talking about, you said Lance was here, where is he now?"

"Well, he was adopted by a sweet family who was willing to take him in as their adopted son, I could give you the address if you want me to."

"That would be great, thank you," I then noticed a sweet little girl, no more than five years old looking over to me, "I think I might know someone who would like to adopte her."

So after getting the address of Lance's new home, I walked out of the office and over to the little girl, "hello there sweetie, what's your name?"

"Katie," she answered, "will you adopte me?"

"Sorry Katie, but I can't, but I might know someone who can," I then pulled out my cellphone and phoned Damon, "hey buddy, listen I want to thank you again for your help, I finally found Lance - oh and I have found a way I can repay you back for your help...well I remember what you and Koyuki were saying about starting a family...there's a sweet little girl here at the orphanage who would like to meet you, her name is Katie. Okay then...yeah you're welcome buddy, I'll talk to you later."

I then hung up the phone and looked down to Kaite, "my friend Damon Drake will be coming by later to see you, I think he might adopte you as his daughter."

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course I do...well, I better be going, I'll see you around okay Katie?"

"Okay...bye, bye!" she called as she waved. I waved right back at her as I walked down the hallway towards the front desk.

"Did you find everything you were looking for Mr. Gagnon?" asked the front desk clerk.

"I sure did," I smiled as I walked out of the orphanage.

A little later that day, I was once again driving, this time I was heading off to the address I got from the manager of the orphanage, but only I knew that, (although between you and me, I think Kaede knew).

"Where are you taking us Big Bro?" Naomi asked.

"You'll see," I said, "it's a surprise."

"A Surprise? Can you least tell us who the surprise is for?"

"I would like to tell you Little Sis, but that would ruin the surprise."

We drove on for another few minutes before we finally found the house, "okay we're here," I said as I got out first, then the four girls climbed out of the truck.

I walked up the short pathway up to the door, but before I did anything, I looked back over to Daisy and Primula, "I need you two to stand in front of Little Sis, it'll become clear soon enough."

"Okay," both girls were unsure of why I asked them to do this, but they didn't argue.

"No fair," Naomi groaned as the two girls stepped in front of her, "I want to see the surprise."

"Oh you will," I smiled. There was no doorbell, so I had to knock on the door.

A second or two later, someone came to the door, "yes, can I help you with something?"

"Yes you can, I have a few questions to ask you. Did you at one time have a little sister with red hair?"

"Yes I did," he answered.

"Okay then, here's my second question, was your original last name 'Livington'?"

"Yes that was my last name, back when I lived with my rotten parents."

"Okay, now for my last question, is your name 'Lance' by any chance?"

"Yes that is my name," he answered, sounding a little uneasy from the questions I was asking, "how do you know so much about me and my old life?"

"Because someone else told us about you," I looked back to Primula and Daisy, I didn't need to say anything, I think they knew what I was going to ask them to do. They moved out of the way and revealed a shocked Naomi.

"L...Lance?" she gasped, sounding speechless.

"N...Naomi?" he was also speechless.

Both of them were quiet for a long period of time, they were shocked to see each other for the first time in a long time. At last the shock wore off, Naomi's eyes started watering with tears once more and her lips quivered.

"Lance, is...is that really you?"

"Yes...it...it is me," he answered, I think he was breaking down into tears too.

As streams of tears fell from Naomi's eyes, she walked slowly up the pathway, then she ran quickly until she ran right up to her brother and giving him a big hug.

"Lance, you're alive!" and she once again burst into tears and started crying, "I thought I would never see you again!"

"So this is what you've been up to," Daisy whispered to me, "nice work Matt."

I smiled as I looked down to Daisy and then back to the two siblings, who were crying, but they were happy to see each other.

"Naomi," Lance finally spoke up, "I'm so happy to see you - I was actually just thinking about you the other day," he was still crying at this given point, "I'm just so happy to see you again."

"Well I'm happy to see you," she smiled, then she looked back over to us, "Lance, I would like to introduce you to my adopted family, my sister: Kaede, her hushand Matthew Gagnon, his little sister: Daisy and Kaede's sister Rimu."

"You can call me Primula if you want," said Primula.

"It's an honor to meet all of you," smiled Lance, "I would like to thank you all for taking care of my Little Sis."

"Hey that's what Matt and Rimu call her," said Daisy.

Lance just smiled as he looked down to her little sister, "I think you and I have a lot of time to catch up on, don't you think so?"

"Yeah, I think we do," and so all six of us walked inside of Lance's house.


	9. Naomi & Lance

Quite a shocker in the last chapter huh? Anyways, now is the time to find out how Lance was able to escape from his rotten parents. Orginally, Lance had a different name, but I had completely forgotten what that name was, so I went with the name 'Lance'. Anyways, this episode is still rated M, there isn't a lot of swearing in this episode, but there is a cute moment coming up later on. Also as a reminder, the date of this chapter starts on May 28th 2011 and in the second paragraph and when Naomi is with Lance on Sunday, it's third person narration and then it's back to 'Matthew' telling the story. And now for part 2, enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 9: Naomi & Lance**_

Lance brought out four cups of tea for the girls, while he and I had sodas. He was quiet for a while, but he was all smiles and so was Naomi. She was speechless at this time.

After a few minutes, she was able to speak again, "Lance, how were able to escape from our rotten parents?"

"It wasn't easy I can tell you that, those ba...bakas," he corrected himself, "nearly got me..."

Lance could do nothing but watch his little sister run off as fast as she could go, he sighed quietly to himself, "at least she's safe - and now it's my turn."

"Those little freaks escaped!" shouted his father's voice.

"Find them, I wish to pound the crap out of them!" shouted his mother.

"I better get out of here," Lance groaned. He tried to get back up, but it was no use - he collapsed to the ground again. He had no choice but to drag his sore and battered body on the sidewalk.

"Where is that freak?" Lance could hear his father shouting in the distance.

"He's outside the house," Lance thought to himself, "that's a first for that bastard."

At last, Lance had finally reached the gate of one of his neighbours, three houses away, "it's now or never - and if I don't hurry now, it's going to be never."

He dragged himself back up, then he pushed down on the handle. Then very slowly, he walked into the yard and closed the gate. He could hear his father cursing and swearing as he tried to find Lance.

"You're dead meat boy, do you hear me?" his father shouted, "I'll kill you before you can tell a single person what happened!"

Lance stayed as quiet as he could, trying hard not to make a sound. Then at last, his father left as he was continuing his search for Lance.

"That was too close for my comfort," Lance sighed unhappily, "I sure hope Naomi is okay."

Lance walked slowly towards the front door, he was badly hurt, he felt like he was going to pass out. At last he was at the door, he banged on it as hard as he could in hopes that someone would answer it. Someone did answer it, it was his neighbour, the minister.

"Help me," Lance groaned as he fell.

"Easy does it boy," said the minister, "it's okay, you're safe now."

The minister brought Lance inside his house and helped him to his couch. Once he was laying down, Lance went out like a light, he was fast asleep.

He stayed with the minister until he was feeling well again.

"Tell me young man, what happened to you?" the minister asked him one day.

"I got attacked by one of those Livington...ah, adults," he knew better than to swear in front of a minister, "the man of the family, he attacked me like I was nothing at all."

"I've heard about those Livingtons, I heard they are terrible people, I sure hope they don't have children." Lance didn't say a single word, "so tell me young lad, where do you live?"

"I don't have a home," Lance answered, "I'm all alone."

Once Lance was feeling better, the minister took him to the orphanage where he stayed for a year. He often helped out with a lot of the work there and helped look after the kids.

"You are very lucky young Lance," said the manager, "not many kids in your position escape from their rotten parents."

"Yeah I know," he sighed. He had of course told the manager of the orphanage of what happened to him, "I only wish I knew what happened to my little sis, Naomi."

After one year of being in that orphanage, Lance was adopted into the Nakata family, which is the family he's with to this day. Although he was happy to finally be free from his rotten parents, he was still worrying about his baby sister.

"Every moment of every day, I continued to worry about you, I thought for sure that our dad caught you," said Lance.

"Well he almost did," said Naomi, "had it not been for Kaede, Big Sis and Big Bro...Matthew," she was looking over to me at this time, then she told Lance the whole story of what happened.

"Are you serious?" Lance gasped, "That really happened to you?"

"It's true," she nodded, "just ask Big Bro...ah, Matthew."

"Well I believe you - still, I'm just so happy to see you again." Naomi didn't say anything, she got up from the couch and walked over to her brother, he got to his feet, then he wrapped his arms around her as he gave her a hug.

"I'm happy to see you too Lance," she then looked over to me, "thank you Big Bro...Matthew."

"You're welcome Little Sis," I smiled.

"Hey, would you guys like to stay for dinner tonight?" Lance asked us.

"We would love to," Kaede smiled, then she looked over to Primula, Daisy and myself, "would that be okay?"

"Of course it is," Daisy and I said in unison. Primula nodded her head in agreement.

We all offered to help Lance make the dinner, he was grateful for the help. As we worked, he spoke to Naomi, "it's been two years since we last saw each other - but you haven't changed a bit my little sister."

"Thanks Lance, and you haven't changed a bit either - well, maybe a little, you are taller than you were before."

Lance just chuckled when he heard that. Just to point out that Lance was making spagetti, homemade sauce and big meatballs. Once dinner was ready, he went to the living room to set up the portable folding tables.

"Need some help?" I asked.

"Yeah," he answered.

And so I helped him set the tables up, "hey Matthew, I want to thank you again for looking after my Little Sis, she's the only member of my old family that I love."

"You know she actually said the same thing about you."

Lance just smiled as he walked off back to the kitchen. Daisy and Naomi helped him in the bowls of spagetti, while Kaede and I brought in the forks, knives and napkins.

"It sure smells good," said Naomi happily, "you know Lance, Matthew makes spagetti and meatballs too."

"Is that so?" he asked sounding interested.

"Hey Little Sis, why are you calling me by my name? I thought I was Big Bro."

"Opps sorry - come to think of it, I have to two Big Bros here. I got it, Lance will be...Big Bro 1 and Matthew can be Big Bro 2."

"Sounds like a good idea," smiled Lance.

"Yeah sure," I muttered quietly.

"Hey Naomi, I know this might sound like a stupid question to ask..."

"It won't be stupid, go ahead and ask me Big Bro 1."

"Very well...Naomi, would you like to move in with me?" Naomi gasped when she heard that question, come to think of it, we all gasped when we heard that question, "Well, you don't need to answer me now, think about it for a bit."

For the next hour and a half, Naomi and Lance talked while the rest of us reminded quiet, except when we said, "thank you" and "this is really good".

Later that evening, I was talking to Kaede in the kitchen of our house, "Matthew, do you really think Naomi would move out?"

"I don't know - it's Naomi's choice now."

Kaede gasped when she heard me say Naomi's name, "you didn't call her Little Sis anymore - does it anything to do with her calling you Big Bro 2?"

"A little bit yes, I know this is going to sound stupid, but when she called me that - it made me feel worthless like I meant nothing to her anymore. I know it sounds stupid, but it's the way I feel."

Before Kaede could say anything, we heard someone walk into the kitchen, it was Naomi, followed by Daisy.

"Have you made a decision yet?" Daisy asked.

"No and quit asking me that!"

"There's no need to shout Naomi," I said as I got up from the chair.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to shout, I just hate hearing the same question over and over again - and yes I am aware that I was asking that one question a dozen times during the trip, you don't need to remind me Daisy."

Primula came into the kitchen and sat down at her usual spot of the table, she didn't say a word to Naomi.

"Oh great, now I'm getting the silent treatment, I hate the silent treatment!"

"I'm not giving you the silent treatment, I just don't have anything to say," as she was saying this, Bridget (our cat) jumped up and onto Primula's lap.

"Naomi, it's your choice, if you want to go live with Lance, then that's fine with us. We won't stand in your way."

"Really?"

"Yes, oh and just to let you know, Lance can have the title of Big Bro back, just call me by my name okay? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going out for a bit, I'll be back soon."

I grabbed my keys from the key rack we have in the kitchen, then I walked out of the kitchen.

"Matt's right," said Daisy, "we won't stand in your way, it's your choice."

Even Kaede had to agree with what Daisy and I said.

The next morning, we were all quiet and I mean that because not one of us said a single word. The vow of silence was finally broken when the phone rang, Naomi was the one who answered it.

"Hi Lance...ah sure just a second..." she then looked over to us, "is it okay if I go out today with Lance?"

"It's okay with us," Kaede said quietly.

Naomi looked at us with a sad look on her face, "sure Lance, I would like to go out with you today...okay, I'll see you at the train station...yeah, see you later."

After she hung up the phone, she walked back over to the table and continued eating breakfast - until she finally spoke up and broke the silence in the room, "I love you guys, I really do."

"We love you too Naomi," Primula said quietly.

After breakfast, Naomi headed out to the doorway to get her shoes on. Daisy walked out to the doorway to have a word with Naomi, "Matt was right in saying that this is your choice, I just hope you know much this is going to hurt us if you move out."

"I know it would hurt you guys - it would hurt me too if I moved away. Look Daisy, we'll talk later after my day out with Lance okay?"

Naomi looked down the hallway, only to see me standing near the stairwell. She turned and walked out the door.

"Do you really think she'll move out Matt?" Daisy asked as she looked over to my direction.

"I don't know, I really don't know..."

Naomi spent the entire day with her older brother, she had a great time hanging out with him, but all the while she couldn't stop thinking about our expressions from before.

After lunch, the two of them went over to the bridge and looked down to the water below, "this is great isn't it Naomi?" Lance asked.

"I guess," she groaned.

"This is what we've been dreaming and hoping for, freedom from the Livington family and to what we wanted to do."

"What did you want to do?"

"Well I would like to be a movie director and I've been doing that ever since I moved in with the Nakata family, they've helped me to see my dream come true. But enough about me, what are your dreams Naomi?"

"I...I...I don't know yet, I don't know what I want to be."

Lance looked down to his little sister, "is something wrong Little Sis?"

"Not really...except - I've been thinking about your offer to live with you."

"Have you come up with a decision then?"

Naomi was quiet as she looked down to the water, "I love you Lance, you are the best big brother a little sister like me could ever ask for - that being said, I can't live with you...I am in debt to the Fuyou and Gagnon family, they were the ones who saved me from our dad and gave me a promising future. On the day I was adopted into the Fuyou family, I told Kaede and Ma...Big Bro," she corrected herself, "that I was worthless and I had nothing to live for."

Lance was quiet as he listened to what his sister had to say.

"Big Bro and Kaede both told me that I have so much to live for and that our parents were wrong all along. It's because of them that I am the person I am today. Because of them, I'm in school now and I have so many wonderful friends and I'm living with two wonderful families - I mean sure, we might get ourselves into arguments every now and then, but that's what a family does, we still love each other. I would like to live you with Lance, but I don't want to leave the only family that gave me a reason to live and made feel like...a human being."

Naomi looked down to the water, she was expecting to hear her older brother yell at her.

"I had a feeling you would say that," he said, but not with an angry tone in his voice.

"What?"

"Well, I had a strong feeling you would want to stay with the family that saved you and gave you a home and a life too. I know just how you feel Naomi, I too am in debt to Nakata family, for they gave me a roof over my head, food in my stomach and a reason to live."

"So...you're not mad at me?"

"Nah, I'm mad at you for wanting to stay with them, they are a great family for you - especially that Matthew, it's because of him that you and I got reunited."

"Well I'm glad you understand," Naomi ran up to her brother and gave him a hug, "I love you Lance."

"And I love you too Naomi...oh and - tell Matthew that he can have the title of 'Big Bro' back, okay?"

"Okay," Naomi smiled.

The two siblings hung out for another twenty minutes, they said their good byes and went off in different directions. Naomi was walking along down the street when she came up to a hobby store. She looked inside and saw Kaede and myself in there. She walked inside the store and walked over to where we were.

"Oh hi Naomi," I said, "where's Lance?"

"He had to go home, he promised the Nakata family that he would help paint one of the bedrooms to a new color," both Kaede and I looked over to Naomi with the same worried look as before, "and before you two ask, I'm _not_ moving in with Lance. I care about you guys too much to move away, you saved my life and gave me a reason to live - I love you guys."

She then walked up to Kaede and gave her a hug, "you are the best big sister I could ever ask for," she smiled.

"You mean it Naomi?"

"Of course."

"And what about Primula and Daisy huh?" I asked.

"Well I love them too, both of them and Kaede are the best sisters I could ever ask for," I looked down sadly, I thought for sure that she would never call me the best big brother she's ever had. To my surprise, she walked up to me and gave me a hug, "I love you too...Big Bro."

"Big Bro?" I looked down to her completely surprised, "I thought that was Lance's nickname."

"He told me to tell you that you can have the name back - and I'm sorry for calling you Big Bro 2, I could never replace you or anyone I know with someone else, I never meant to hurt your feelings, you are one of the best big brothers I could ever ask for."

I just smiled as I looked down to Naomi, I wrapped my arms around her.

"So what are you two doing here?" she asked after the hug.

"We're just looking at some of the model trains here," I answered.

"Really? Do you know what types of engines they are?" she asked with a sly tone in her voice, I nodded my head, "okay then, tell me what type of engine that is," she pointed to one of the engines in the glass case.

"Too easy, that's a Pennsylvania Railroad K4 pacific steam locomotive."

"Okay, what about that one?"

"Also easy, that's a Norfolk and Western 'Mighty J' 600 class steam locomotive," I looked at it, "it was also known as a northern, the only engine to still be around to this day is number 611."

"Okay you're good, then what about that one?" she wasn't pointing a steam engine.

"Little Sis, you are talking to a train expert here - that diesel you're pointing is a GP40-2, that one has the paint scheme of the Conrail railroad."

Kaede giggled quietly while Naomi stood in shock, the store manager clapped softly, he too was impressed with my knowledge of trains, "do you know everything about trains Big Bro?"

"Not really, there are some things I don't know about trains - but that's only for the trains I haven't seen in books, movies, internet or in real life. The rest of them, I know alot about them."

Naomi stopped as she looked at a steam engine in a glass case, it was huge, this was one of those garden railway trains, "and what about that one, do you what type of engine it is?"

"First of all you mean what class of engine it is," I corrected her, "and yes I do know that class of engine, that's a garden railway version of a G5 class pacific steam locomotive of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the only few I know that are still in service today are 1201 in Ottawa and 1293 at the Ohio Central railway."

"You're good!" the manager called out to me.

"Matthew," Kaede called over to me, "I found that engine you were looking for."

Naomi and I walked over to the case Kaede was standing next to, I looked at the engine, "yep that's the one I was looking, that's a Union Pacific 800 class Northern steam engine locomotive, and it's number is...844, that _is_ the engine I was looking for - good eye there Kaede."

She smiled happily as I said that, she then waved over to the manager, "excuse me sir, but we would like to buy that Union Pacific 800 class northern."

"Which one?" he asked.

"No. 844."

"Geez Kaede," said Naomi, "you're starting to sound like Big Bro."

Kaede and I giggled when she said that. The manager opened up the case and took the engine over to a special test track to see if it would run, it ran perfectly.

After he put it into it's proper box, we payed for the engine, thanked the man and headed off back to the house.

"Why are you getting that engine Big Bro?" Naomi asked, "we don't have room back at our house for a train set."

"I wish I could tell you Little Sis, but that's a secret between Kaede and myself - for now," I looked over to Kaede and winked, she giggled happily.

Naomi said nothing more until we got back to the house, that's when she told Primula and Daisy that she wasn't going to move out.

"I love this family too much to ever leave it," she said happily.

Later that night, I was talking with my friends on the Sodor Island Forums about Naomi and her brother, their past and what happened most recently.

"It's almost hard to believe that Naomi wasn't the only one who lived with those rotten parents," said Sierracat27's message, "I am happy though that she and her brother have been reunited after two long years apart."

"Did you really think Naomi would move out of the house for good?" Metamorphical's message asked.

"I did think that, and so did Kaede and our two sisters too," I answered back.

"You know something though," said Warrior's message, "this almost sounds like that time when you were given that offer for a promotion, remember? Kaede was worried that you might move away, you two didn't talk until after you told her you weren't going anywhere."

"Yeah I guess it does sound familar," I replied back, he made a good point there.

"Still, it's good to know that Naomi's going to stay with you guys. I think she's lucky to have such a wonderful family who cares about her and will do anything for her."

All of my friends on the Sodor Island Forums agreed happily with what Warrior said.

After chatting with my friends for a while, I read some new adaptations, then I logged off and shut down my computer.

Kaede came into the bedroom, still wearing the same clothes she was wearing before. She closed the door and locked the door behind her, "would you like to sleep naked with me tonight?" she asked me sweetly.

"Of course I would," I answered happily.

So once we were undressed, I layed down on our bed, then she came over and layed down on top of me. And like a few nights ago, we were going to sleep without the bed sheets on top of us.

She moved up a bit until our lips met, we then kissed for three and a half minutes.

"Have I ever told you how handsome you look?" Kaede asked me sweetly.

"Yeah, you tell me that all the time."

"And I mean it."

"Thanks Kaede - and like I always say, you are so beautiful."

Kaede blushed happily, I was also blushing at this time. We kissed on the lips again for another minute and a half.

"I love you Matthew."

"And I love you too Kaede."

We then said our good nights to each other, I winked after I said my good night and of course Kaede giggled happily. She then rested her head on my chest while I wrapped my arms around her. We closed our eyes at the same time and went happily to sleep.


	10. Romantic Evening

Okay my friends, my writing spree continues with this all new episode of 'Our Kinda Life'. This idea came to me a couple of weeks ago, but I never got the chance to write it down - well, not till now. This episode is once again about 'Matthew' and 'Kaede' and one special night, I sure hope this doesn't reveal too much about what's to come. Anyways, this episode is rated M for there is some swearing and cute moments included. Anyhow, I've done enough talking for now, I am proud to present the tenth episode, I hope you guys will enjoy this.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 10: Romantic Evening**_

Monday May 30th had been another busy day and I mean that, I came home completely wiped out. Al was sick today and throughout half the day, Sakura couldn't help me at all because she was needed behind the camera, plus I had to do at least fifteen demostrations on the show today. Which is no wonder why the moment I got into the living room, I crashed onto the couch.

"What a day," I groaned.

I looked over to the living room table and saw a DVD movie sitting there, I reached over and grabbed it, "what do we have here?" I whispered quietly, "Sunflower field of Love? I remember this movie..."

"It's the movie we saw on our first date," another voice said.

I didn't jump in surprise this time, I heard her come into the living room, it was my beautiful wife Kaede, "I was looking around in that new movie rental store and I found that movie there," she then looked down to my tired face, "did you have a rough day at work?"

"Yeah," I groaned quietly and so I told Kaede about my day, "so where are our little sisters?"

"Well, Daisy is on another date with Monty, Rimu is on a date with Max and Naomi has gone out to see Shiori, she said she wanted to introduce Shiori to her brother, Lance. Ah Matthew, is it okay if I lay down with you?"

"Sure Kaede, you can lay down with me."

Kaede smiled as she got onto the couch and layed down right on top of me, she grabbed the remote for the television, then she turned it on.

"What would you like to watch Matthew?"

"Hmm...what about Wipeout, is that okay?"

"Of course it is," she smiled, she searched the many channels until she found the network that was playing 'Wipeout', (it's a good show where 24 or 20 contestants face off aganist an obstacle course for alot of money).

"Matthew, can I talk to you about something serious?"

"Sure Kaede, what would you like to talk about?"

"Well, I was wondering...how would you feel about...starting a family?"

"You mean...having children?" I asked, Kaede nodded her head, "well Kaede, I would love to start a family," I ran my fingers threw her hair at that moment.

"Do you mean it?"

"Of course I mean it," I looked down to her, she was smiling and blushing too, "Kaede, would you like to...you know..."

"Yes, but maybe we could try it tomorrow night."

"What's so special about tomorrow night?"

"Well, Daisy and Rimu are going to be sleeping at Max and Monty's place and Naomi is going to be spending the night at Lance's home, so it'll be just you and me, it can be a special romantic night for us - would that be okay?"

"Of course it's okay Kaede, so what do you have in mind?"

"Well, maybe we start the evening off by having a special romantic dinner, then we can watch our favourite romantic movie, then..." she was really blushing at this time, "maybe we could take a romantic bubble bath together..."

Boy did I ever blush at that moment, "Kaede, we haven't taken a bath together since our honeymoon," she looked up to me and saw me smiling, "I think the plans for the romantic evening are good so far. After the bath, what's next?"

"Well...that's when you and I could..." she looked up to make sure no one was listening in, then she crawled up a bit and whispered into my right ear, "make love."

The last time Kaede and I 'made love' was during our honeymoon.

"What do you think Matthew?"

"I like the ideas - that's what we'll do, if you're sure about this."

"Yes, I am sure about this," she then kissed me on the lips for a few seconds.

"In that case, tomorrow night will be a romantic evening just for the two of us," Kaede giggled happily and she kissed me on the lips again, this time a good two minute long kiss.

The next morning (May 31st) after breakfast, Kaede and I walked up to our room, she had something she wanted to show me. She pulled out a small white box, removed the lid and pulled out a light orange piece of lingerie.

"I got this yesterday," she said while blushing, "what do you think of it Matthew?"

"I think it looks cute," I smiled, but then I noticed, "it is a little short Kaede, it's even smaller than your short skirts."

"I know," Kaede was still blushing at this time and she was smiling, "I'll be wearing this tonight - well most of the night," she said it in a way I've never heard from my dear sweet wife before.

I was really blushing at this time, "You're really looking forward to tonight aren't you?" I asked.

"I am - what about you?"

"Of course I am."

Kaede then walked up to me and gave me a hug, I wrapped my arms around her and held her close to me.

"Hey you two, get a room!" Both of us jumped in fright, there was Naomi standing at the door (she hadn't seen the piece of lingerie Kaede had shown me a second ago).

"For the record Little Sis, this is our room."

"Oh," she said meekily.

She then ran off, feeling quite embarrassed, "yeah I don't think she'll be using that joke with us anymore," I chuckled, Kaede was giggling at this time too.

Ten minutes later, our three sisters were on their way to school. As for me, I was just getting my shoes on, I wasn't going to need my sweater today because of the warm weather.

"Here's your lunch Matthew," Kaede held out a small lunchbox wrapped in a green handercheif.

"Thank you Kaede - honey," Kaede blushed when I called her 'honey'.

"Have a good at work."

"I will - oh, ah - what are you going to do today?"

"I'm going to get everything ready for tonight, and I'm going to phone everyone and tell them not to call us tonight."

"Good idea Kaede," I smiled, "well, I'll see you later," I then gave her a sweet kiss on the right side of her face, and she gave me a kiss on the right side of my face.

"I'll see you later dear," she said sweetly.

I waved to her as I walked down the pathway to the gate, I almost ran into the gate, thankfully Kaede was watching me and had warned me. I blew her a kiss after I opened the gate, and she blew me a kiss right back. She stayed in the doorway until I was out of sight.

I cranked up the radio as the song 'Could Have Fooled Me' by 'Adam Gregory' started up.

"Tonight is going to be great!" I smiled happily.

Today, Al and I were showing people how to use certain tools for building stuff, today we were showing them how to put a bookshelf together and show them what can happen if you don't do it properly. All this week, Al and I were doing demostrations on how to build certain things, today was bookshelves and tomorrow was going to be a bedroom dresser.

After the long day, Al and I worked together to clean up the shop.

"Hey Matthew listen, I'm sorry about not coming in yesterday, I wasn't feeling that well you know."

"Yeah I get it, don't worry about it Al, I'm not complaining."

"Yeah I have noticed today that you're more a little more cheerful than usual, what's going on buddy?" he asked, I didn't answer him at all, well - not just yet.

"Kaede and I...have something special planned for tonight."

"Oh I get it, a romantic evening together."

I gasped when I heard Al say that, "yes, but...please don't say it out loud okay?"

"Yeah sorry about that," he said quietly.

We were quiet for another minute and a half until I spoke up, "Kaede and I do have some romantic plans set out for tonight, I can't tell you what they are - but it is special."

"It's okay Matthew, you don't need to say a word, I understand completely - tell you what, I'll finish cleaning up here while you go home, cause I'm sure you're eager to see your wife tonight."

"Are you sure Al?"

"Positive," he smiled, "go see her."

"Thanks buddy, I owe you one!"

"Nah, you owe me nothing!" he called to me as he went back to work.

I grabbed my stuff and headed off for my truck. Just as I was stepping out, my cellphone rang, "Hello? Oh hi Damon...yeah I found Lance...yes Naomi was very happy to see him again...oh hey, did you go meet Katie? You did huh? Well do you think you and Koyuki might...oh, you did adopte her huh? Oh yeah I can hear her...well you're welcome buddy...yeah, I'll talk to you later, bye."

I hung up the phone, then I got into the truck and started up the engine - only problem was, it stalled again.

"Dammit," I snapped, "That's the fifth time this month that this truck's broken down."

I got out and pulled up the hood, I worked on the engine for five minutes, then tried starting it up again, thankfully it started up this time, "looks like this truck ready for another trip to the mechanics, what a piece of crap!"

I didn't stay mad forever, my good mood returned in a matter of seconds, "I'm looking forward to seeing my wife," I thought to myself.

It wasn't long before I finally arrived at the house. As I was walking up the sidewalk, I could see Lance standing outside, "hey Lance, what are you doing here?"

"I'm waiting for Naomi to get a few of her things, then we'll be heading off back to my place."

"Okay then - oh and Lance, thanks again for watching over Little Sis tonight."

"You're welcome Matthew, besides it'll give you and Kaede a chance to have some time to yourselves. I know it's not easy with your sisters in the house."

"Yeah you got that right - oh and please don't let Little Sis call us during the night."

"Don't worry Matthew, I'll make sure she doesn't any phones."

The door slid to the side and there was Naomi with a few of her belongings, "I'm ready to go Lance," she then looked up to me, "have a good time Big Bro...I only wish I knew what you two are doing."

She walked over to the gate, I looked over to Lance confused, "she really doesn't know what Kaede and I have planned tonight?"

"Nope," Lance chuckled as he walked towards the gate, "maybe it's best if she doesn't know for now."

"Good point," I chuckled, then I called out to Naomi, "have a good time Little Sis!"

"I will!" she called back.

"See you tomorrow Matthew," said Lance. He walked over to where Naomi was, then the two of them walked off back to Lance's house.

I walked inside the house and knocked on the kitchen door, "who is it?" Kaede's voice called out, I told her that it was me, "you can come in!" I walked into the kitchen and there she was, she was working at the stove and she was wearing a housecoat.

"Hey Kaede, ah - why are you wearing a housecoat?"

"Well, it's becuase..." she undid the strap of her housework and showed me the reason why she is wearing it, she was wearing that piece of lingerie she was showing me before. She was really blushing at this time and so was I, "what do you think of it now Matthew?"

"It looks...really cute on you," I answered.

"Well I'm glad you like it, oh and I was wondering if we could save the romantic bubble bath for tomorrow morning..."

"Yeah sure, we can do that."

An hour and a half later, dinner was almost ready (oh and just to let you know, Kaede didn't tie up the strap of her housecoat up again). I was setting up the table for us, with really nice silverware, really nice plates and candals into their stands.

At around five, everything was ready for our perfect evening. I walked over to where Kaede was, she was all smiles tonight and blushing happily. Our lips got closer and closer to each other, we would've kissed - had it not been for that phone.

"I thought I called everyone and told them not to call us," said Kaede.

"Maybe someone just forgot," I walked over to the phone and picked it up, "hello?"

"Hi Matthew, it's Rin. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Yeah you kinda did - didn't you get the message earlier that Kaede and I didn't want to be distrubed tonight."

"Sadly not, I've been over here at Asa's house."

"Okay and is there a reason why you're calling? Cause if there isn't, I am going to hang up..."

"Actually I was wondering if you could come over and help out for a bit, I need to go out for a job interview."

"Ah Rin, did you not just hear me when I said Kaede and I want to be alone tonight. Call someone else to help okay?" I looked over to Kaede, she was walking over towards me with a sad look on her face.

"Please Matthew, I really need help here, I don't want to be late for that interview."

"Well what about Ms. Ama, couldn't she help?"

"She's at a doctor's appoitment right now..."

"We'll be there," said Kaede sadly.

I sighed unhappily, "Fine Rin, we'll be there," I was really mad at him. I slammed the phone down hard, I couldn't believe that Rin would call us just when we wanted to be alone.

"So much for our romantic evening," Kaede sighed as she walked over to the stove.

"We're still going to have a romantic evening Kaede. We'll only be there for an hour anyways, that's how long an interview takes, so we'll go over there, keep an eye on Asa and then once Rin or Ms. Ama comes back in, we'll come back here and have our romantic evening."

"Are you sure Matthew?"

"I'm sure - trust me."

"I trust you - just give me a mintue to change," she sighed unhappily as she walked out of the kitchen and headed off back to our room.

I also sighed unhappily to myself as I took all the food off the stove and put covers on top of them, then I walked out to where my shoes were. I slipped into them and waited for Kaede to return. She came down a couple of minutes later wearing her white dress.

We were soon at the Shigure house, Rin had wisely walked out for his interview, "it's a good thing your husband to be walked out before we got here," I was saying to Asa, "he has a lot of nerve calling us when Kaede and I wanted to be alone."

"I know," Asa sighed unhappily, "I wanted to tell Rin to call someone else, but I was throwing up again - I'm sorry."

"It's okay Asa," Kaede said kindly, "there's no need to say sorry."

"But I should," she said, "you two wanted to spend the night by yourselves and we ruined it."

"You haven't ruined our evening," I said, "Kaede and I will have our special night together when we get back to the house," I looked over to Kaede, she was once again smiling.

We stayed with Asa for about twenty minutes, that was until Ms. Ama came in, "oh hi Matthew, hi Kaede, what are you two doing here?"

Both Kaede and I told Ms. Ama the reason why we're here, "well I'm sorry about interupting your evening together."

"It's okay Ms. Ama," Kaede and I said in unison, we looked at each other and giggled.

Both Ms. Ama and Asa thanked us again for coming over, then both Kaede and I headed out back to the house. We hadn't gone far before the truck's engine started smoking, then it broke down and stalled on us.

"Oh no come on!" I shouted, "not now! Come you start!" I tried starting the engine up again, but it just kept stalling on me again and again, "Come on! Come on!"

The truck still wouldn't start up, "oh for crying out loud! Dammit! Damn! Damn! DAMN!" I shouted and banged my hands on the stering wheel, "I don't believe this!" I got out and tried to fix the engine, but it would not start. "I'll call for a tow truck," I called to Kaede, "I don't believe this."

Three minutes later, a tow truck finally arrived and towed my truck to the garage. All Kaede and I could do now was to wait in the waiting room of the garage, Kaede hardly said a word. I knew why, she was upset that our plans had been ruined because of Rin's job interview and my truck breaking down too, I couldn't blame her, I knew how she felt.

We waited for an entire hour until at last a mechanic came out to speak to us.

"We were able to fix your truck, but I can't guarantee that it won't break down again," he then handed my keys back, "it's all fixed, you can go."

"Thank you," I said, once again Kaede was still being quiet. She remained quiet throughout the entire trip home, come to think of it, I didn't say a single word either.

We soon returned back to the house, Kaede walked over to the counter with a sad look on her face while I walked over to the table and sat down at my usual spot. After a minute, I finally broke the silence, "Kaede listen - I'm sorry okay? I know our romantic evening didn't start off according to plan - and I'm sorry for swearing in front of you earlier."

"It's okay Matthew," she sighed unhappily, "plans don't always go accordingly."

"That's true," then we went quiet again. I got up from the chair and walked over to where Kaede was, I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her on the right side of her face, "We might be off to a late start tonight, but I would still like to have a romantic evening with you."

"I would like that too."

"So why don't we?" I asked with a smile on my face.

"But won't that mean that you'll late for work tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but it's okay - I'll just leave a message with Mr. Quinten telling him I won't be coming in tomorrow."

Kaede's sweet beautiful smile returned at that moment, she then kissed me on the right side of my face, "I'll be right back," she said, "I just need to get something, could you warm up the dinner?"

"Sure Kaede."

She went back upstairs while I warmed up our dinner - a few mintues later, our dinner was warmed up once more. Kaede came back into the kitchen, she was once again wearing that cute piece of lingerie.

I walked around, closing the curtains in our house and locking the front door too. I walked into the kitchen, only to discover that Kaede and the food she cooked earlier weren't in there.

"Is it okay if we eat in the living room while we watch the movie?" Kaede called from the living room.

"Of course it's okay," I smiled.

Kaede had all the food in the living room and she had already put the DVD movie into the machine. We had the lights on while we ate dinner, we often shared pieces of our dinner with each other, (she would give me a piece of food while I gave her a piece of my food). After eating dinner, I got up and turned the lights off.

Kaede rested her head on my shoulder while I had my right hand on her right shoulder.

The movie was just as wonderful as we remembered it, Kaede had a few tears in her eyes, "here you go honey," I gave her some tissues after we saw a real romantic scene.

"Thank you Matthew," she said as she wiped the tears away, "it was so beautiful."

"Yeah it was - so Kaede, are you ready to..." I whispered this part into her left ear, "make love."

"I'm ready," she whispered to me while blushing.

I soon had my beautiful wife in my arms, we walked up those stairs and then down the hallway to where our room was, then I locked the door behind us.

The next morning (Wednesday June 1st 2011), I woke up and looked around the room, Kaede's piece of lingerie was sitting next to my jeans, as for the rest of my clothes, they sat all over the floor. There was also a unique smell in the room - it was the smell of love.

Kaede yawned as she woke up and looked me in the eyes, "good morning Matthew."

"Good morning Kaede," I ran my fingers threw her hair while she rubbed the left side of my face with her right hand. She was all smiles this morning, "did you have a good time last night?"

"I did - it was so wonderful," she then kissed me on the lips for a minute and a half.

"So, are you ready for that romantic bubble bath?"

"Not yet," she answered, I looked at her kinda confused, "can we just stay here for a few more minutes, please?"

"Sure Kaede," I smiled.

She continued to smile at me, then she kissed me on the lips again for two and a half minutes (Oh and for the record, it's six thirty in the morning and I _had_ called Mr. Quinten's office last night).

After the kiss, and after getting our housecoats on, I carried her to the washroom where we had our romantic bubble bath. There were lots of bubbles in the bathtub this morning. We stayed in the bathtub for thirty minutes, then after we were dried off, I carried her, without our housecoats on, to our room.

"So Kaede," I said as we were getting changed, "what did you think of our romantic evening?"

"I loved it," she said happily and ran up to me to give me a hug. She only had her panties, skirt and socks on, in other words - she's half dressed. I wrapped my arms around Kaede and held her close to me, "I love you Matthew."

"And I love you too Kaede."

Once we were dressed, we both walked off back downstairs, holding hands the entire time.


	11. All Alone

As recalled back in the 'My Kinda Life' episodes 46 'Rival' and 47 'Shiori', Yukie had been distant from her little sister because of her relationship with Jun. The reason I'm talking about those episodes is because it has a lot to do with this all new story you're about to read. This is the first time in a long time that Yukie makes her grand return, she's one of those characters I created for 'My Kinda Life' and hardly ever use in the stories, so I thought it was about time to bring her back into the stories in another two parter series of episodes. Anyways, the series is rated M for there is some swearing included, oh and please note that when we're at Shiori and Yukie's house and during the walk from school, it's third person narration. Anyhow, here now is episode 11!

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 11: All Alone**_

I thought for sure that on June 1st 2011, I wasn't going to be going into work, but I did. Kaede made me a special lunch and gave me a two minute kiss before I headed off for work. Al, Sakura and Mr. Quinten were surprised to see me come in today.

"We thought you weren't coming in today Matthew," said Mr. Quinten.

"I thought so too," I said.

"So what was the reason you weren't going to come in?"

I couldn't speak at that moment, I didn't know what to say. Al spoke up, "he had to take care of family business," he said, "Matthew told me that yesterday, but it looks like he took of it. Right buddy?"

"Yeah," I said quietly.

"Very well then," said Mr. Quinten as he walked off the set. Sakura went backstage to talk with the crew.

"I owe you big time Al," I said quietly.

"Nah, you owe me nothing," he said as he went back to work.

Throughout the rest of the day, Al and I worked hard with our demostration on how to build a bedroom dresser, tomorrow's demostration was going to be how to build various different desks.

After the long day, I finally returned home feeling tired once more. I walked over to the kitchen to see my sweet beautiful wife in there, she was washing some pots and pans. I walked up till I was standing behind her, then I placed my hands over her eyes.

"Guess who," I said with a whisper.

"Hmm, let's see...is it my wonderful husband...Matthew?"

"Correct," I chuckled as I removed my hands away, Kaede looked over to me and giggled happily.

She then looked down sadly to the sink, "I took one of those tests today and...I'm _not_ pregnant."

We were both quiet for a few seconds that was until I spoke up, "oh well, there's always a next time right?" Kaede nodded her head happily, "I still had a great time with you last night."

"I was just going to say that," she giggled, I chuckled too.

Kaede stared into my eyes and I stared into hers, our lips came closer and closer to each other, we would've kissed had it been for...

"Get a room you two!" called Naomi as she came into the room. Both of us looked to see our Little Sis walk into the kitchen, followed by Lance and Shiori. Looks like I was wrong when I said she wasn't going to use that joke on us again.

It was Lance who saw that sad look on Shiori's face, "is something wrong Shiori?"

"No, nothing is wrong," she sighed unhappily.

I could tell that Shiori wasn't telling the truth, but I didn't say anything. As usual, Shiori and Naomi worked together on their homework, with a little help from Lance.

An hour later, they were done. Much to Naomi's surprise, Shiori was heading off to the doorway.

"Where are you going Shiori?" Naomi called out.

"I have to go home now," she answered, "I have something I have to do there."

"Okay. Well I'll see you at school tomorrow!"

"Yeah I'll see you tomorrow!" she called back and (once she had her shoes on), Shiori walked out.

Shiori soon returned back to her house, she couldn't find Yukie anywhere, she sighed unhappily and walked over to the living room couch. A few minutes later, Yukie came into the living room, she was surprised to see her little sister there.

"Hey Shiori, what are you doing home so early? You don't usually come home till past seven."

Shiori looked down to the floor sadly, she didn't answer her big sister just then. "Where were you Yukie?"

"Well I was at work of course."

"You get off work at around three," Shiori looked over to the clock, "and it's now past five. You've been coming home late lately Yukie, and we hardly ever spend any time together anymore. I seem to remember you did this alot when you were with that guy, Jun Takeda - next thing I know you'll be..."

Shiori looked back to the doorway, she could see Yukie talking on her cellphone with someone else.

"Ignoring me again," Shiori sighed sadly. She got up from the couch and out of the room, past Yukie without saying a single word. Shiori walked slowly up the stairs, then once she reached her room, she slammed her door shut and leaned back on it. She slid down to the floor, her eyes watered with tears, her lips quivered - then she burst into tears. "She hates me again," Shiori sobbed and buried her face in her hands.

"I think Shiori is upset with Yukie for some reason," Naomi was saying to us during dinner, "she's been quiet lately, too quiet - the last time she was like that was when Yukie used to ignore her."

"That wasn't a good time for Shiori," I had to agree with Naomi.

Lance was still visiting us, sitting in between Naomi and Primula. Daisy had Kaede's seat while Kaede sat to my right side. "Do you think that whatever seperated those two sisters has come up again?" Lance asked.

"Maybe...but I doubt it's Jun Takeda this time."

Naomi explained to her older brother about Jun and all the trouble he and Yukie caused before their relationship came to an end after she lost to Kaede in a cooking contest.

"It could be anything," said Primula, "maybe it has a lot to do with work."

"Or maybe she's hanging out with other people," said Daisy.

"But then why wouldn't Yukie tell her baby sister?" Naomi asked, "Yukie tells Shiori everything, according to what Shiori always says to me, from secrets to what she likes - so why wouldn't Yukie say anything to her baby sister?"

"Who knows," Kaede said quietly.

"Do you guys think that Yukie will go back to the way she was before, you know - back to when she was with that jerk, Jun Takeda?"

"Like Kaede said, 'who knows'," I answered, "personally I hope not."

"Boy you guys really care about your friends don't you?" Lance asked, "normally people just tell me to mind my own business when I stick my nose in where it doesn't belong."

"Well it's who we are," said Naomi, "We've done that hundreds of times before."

The next day, Naomi and Shiori were walking along after school had finished for the day. Lance couldn't come this time, Naomi was explaining why, "Lance is busy with making a movie for his class," she said.

Shiori hardly said anything.

"Shiori, is something wrong? You can tell me, we're best friends after all, right?" The moment she asked that question, Shiori burst into tears, fell to her knees and hid her face with her hands. "Shiori! What's wrong, why are you crying?"

"Naomi, you are the only friend I can talk to about this," Shiori sobbed sadly, "I think Yukie hates me again."

"What? Why would you say that?"

Shiori couldn't say anything, she was really crying right then and there. Lots of people could see Shiori crying and were thinking that Naomi must've done something to hurt her.

"There's nothing to see here!" Naomi shouted, "now move on will you?"

The people continued on their way while Shiori continued to cry.

"My sister has got a new boyfriend - she's gone back to way she was before when she met Jun," Shiori said after a few seconds, "she won't listen to me and she doesn't want to spend any time with me...I think she'll..."

"Ignore you next?" Naomi asked.

"Yes," Shiori sobbed as she got to her feet.

Naomi walked along side by side with Shiori till they reached the Fuyou/Gagnon house, "Shiori, would you like to stay for dinner tonight?"

"Yeah, I would like to stay for dinner," Shiori was finally calming down, "thanks Naomi." Naomi smiled as she and Shiori walked along the pathway and into the house.

"So it is because of a new boyfriend," I was saying after Naomi told Kaede and I about Shiori's emotional breakdown, "I just hope this guy isn't like that Jun Takeda."

"I'm pretty sure he is," said Naomi, "otherwise it wouldn't bother Shiori like this."

"I don't know what this guy is like," said Shiori as she came into the kitchen, "I've never met him and I don't think I ever will."

"We're sorry Shiori, we know we shouldn't be talking behind your back - we're just considered and worried for you."

"I'll be okay," she sighed unhappily, "I just have to get used to being alone again. Yukie won't want anything to do with me - I should've known that these good times weren't going to last forever."

"Shiori, you're never going to be alone okay? You still got us, we're always here for you okay?"

"Little Sis is right you know," I spoke up next, "she actually took the words out of my mouth."

Kaede and Naomi giggled quietly.

"Thanks guys, you are wonderful friends - you always have been."

But even after our talk, Shiori was quiet throughout the entire time. She was even quiet when I was taking her home, that was until we finally arrived, "Thanks for the ride Matthew."

"You're welcome Shiori, remember - if you ever need to talk to someone, you can always call us or come over anytime you want to."

"I'll remember, thanks again."

She grabbed her bag, closed the truck door, then she walked up her driveway to her house. I could see her stop just before she got in, my guess was because she was wiping away her tears.

"Poor girl," I thought to myself as I drove off just as the song 'Bring Me To Life' by 'Evanscence' started up.

Once she was inside, Shiori headed off for her room. As she reached the top step, she saw Yukie walking over towards her, "hey Shiori, I'm sorry about last night, what were you saying?"

"Forget it, it was nothing important," Shiori groaned quietly.

"Shiori, is something wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong, everything is fine - just like it always is."

"What?"

Shiori looked back over to her older sister, tears were appearing in her eyes once again, but she was also angry. "When you were going out with Jun, you told me to leave you alone and to never call you my big sister..."

"That was over a year ago Shiori, I..."

"I promised you I wouldn't say anything. I should've kept true to that promise."

"Shiori..." Yukie was cut off by her baby sister.

"I know you have a new relationship and I know you would like to spend all your free time with him..." Shiori was really crying at this time, her eyes were watering with tears that fell from her eyes and fell to the floor, "so don't you worry, I won't bother you anymore and as of today...we're no longer sisters..."

Shiori couldn't take anymore, she ran into her room, slammed the door shut and locked it.

"Shiori!" Yukie called, "Shiori open this door!"

"Just leave me alone!" Shiori cried.

"Shiori..."

"I said leave me alone!" Shiori shouted out loud, "I won't bother you anymore Yukie! Go back to being the monster you once were, I don't care anymore..." Shiori broke down once more and buried her face into the pillow.

Yukie was silent for a long time, then she walked away from Shiori's door, she didn't say a single word to her baby sister. Poor Shiori spent the entire night crying her eyes out, then she tossed out every picture she had of her and Yukie from the time they spent together, and even threw out some of the gifts Yukie gave her during christmas.

"The Yukie I knew is gone," Shiori sobbed to herself, "and in her place...is a Yukie I don't like!"

As for Yukie, she could hear Shiori, but she didn't bother going over to the door. Somehow she had the feeling that Shiori wouldn't listen to her at all.

The next morning, Naomi, Daisy and Primula were getting their shoes on while Max and Monty waited at the front door, as for me, I was working on my truck, as you can guess, it nearly broke down on me again last night.

"What a crappy job," I groaned, "no matter how many times this truck goes in to be fixed, it just keeps breaking down on me."

I then noticed someone walking over towards me, I thought it was Naomi. I rolled out (just for the record, I was on the roller) from under my truck, only to find out it wasn't Naomi, it was Shiori. She looked terrible this morning, she wasn't smiling, she looked pale and she had dark lines under her eyes.

"Hey Shiori," I said kindly, "are you..."

Before I could say anything, Shiori fell to her knees and burst into tears on my chest. The four girls and the twins ran out to see what the crying was about. Lance was walking up to our place and he could see this.

"I'm only guessing that everything is _not_ okay," said Naomi quietly.

"Would you like to come inside Shiori?" Kaede asked kindly.

"Yes," she sobbed, "I would like to."

So once she was helped back to her feet and after I moved my tool box to the metal box I have behind the cab of the truck, we walked inside and that's when Shiori told us everything about last night.

"It's official now," Shiori sighed unhappily, "my bond with Yukie has been broken, we're no longer sisters."

"She will always be your sister, like it or not," said Lance.

"It's not helping matters here," said Max, then added, "I thought for sure that Monty would've said something stupid to upset Shiori again," it was lucky for Max that his brother didn't hear his rude remark.

"I'm just saying that because it's true," Lance continued, "both Naomi and I know that because even though we really don't like our parents, they _are_ still our parents, like it or not."

"You forgot to mention that they hate us too," Naomi piped up.

"Right," Lance then changed the subject, "still though, you shouldn't have yelled at Yukie like that, it's better just to sit down and talk it out, sister to sister."

"Well said Lance," I called over to him.

"Well I do have my moments," he chuckled quietly.

"I know you guys are right," Shiori said quietly, "I shouldn't have yelled her, but I didn't want to hear that all over again. Yukie and I had a bond that could never be seperated, but then Jun came along and she told me to stay away from her and so I did, but I wished I hadn't..."

"Maybe things would've been different," Daisy interupted as kindly as she could, "maybe Yukie doesn't want to exclude you from her life."

"It's doubtful, she's probably been finding some excuse to kick me out of her life and now she has that excuse - a new boyfriend," we were quiet for a few seconds until Shiori spoke up, "we should probably get going or we're going to be late."

"Okay Shiori," said Naomi, but very quietly.

Once the four girls and the twins had their school bags, they set off for the school, with Lance walking along beside them.

Once they were gone, it was my turn to go, "have a good day at work okay Matthew?"

"I will, I'll see you later honey," I then gave Kaede a kiss on the lips, climbed into my truck and drove off for work.

I soon arrived at the set of 'Tech Corner', Al was already setting everything up for today's show. No sooner had I stepped out to the set then he called out, "hey Matthew, why is your shirt wet?"

"Shiori cried all over my shirt," I called to him. Once I got my stuff to the lockers, I walked back out to the set and told Al and Sakura, who arrived a few minutes after I arrived, everything about Shiori's little 'outburst' in front of Yukie.

"I agree that she shouldn't have yelled at Yukie," said Sakura, "still I can understand why she did it."

"And why is that?" Al asked her.

"Well, let's say if I had an older sister who told me to leave her alone and never talk to her, it would hurt my feelings quite a bit. So when she asked for my forgiveness and then told the same crap again, I would yell at her too."

"Of course Sakura, you _are_ the older sister to Rose," I said.

"Yep, and I would never tell Rose to stay out of my life just because I'm going out with Michael, that is downright mean and terrible."

"Yeah I see what you mean," said Al quietly.

"I just wonder who this guy is that Yukie is dating," I said, "I hope he's nothing like Jun, that guy was a downright pain in the ass and a regular bastard too, he deserved that punch I gave him and he deserved to go to jail."

"Well we won't know until we see Yukie and her new boyfriend," said Sakura.

For the rest of the day, none of us talked about the little outburst or Yukie's harsh words to Shiori a few years back, except around lunchtime.

The four girls and the twins were already at the house when I returned. As you can guess, Shiori was still depressed and sitting down at Naomi's spot of the kitchen table.

"She hasn't said a word since we got in," said Naomi, "all she's been doing is staring at the kitchen table."

It was then we heard the doorbell, Primula went to answer it - she came back less than a minute later with...Yukie! She too looked pale and she had dark lines under her eyes, the only difference was that she was mad.

"So this is where you're hiding," Yukie said angerily, "why didn't you come home you little crybaby?"

"Leave her alone!" Naomi snapped as she stood in between Yukie and Shiori, "you've hurt Shiori enough times in the past, I won't let you do it again."

Yep, it was clear to see that this situation between Yukie and Shiori has just gone from bad to worse.

"I see you've turned back into the monster you were before," Shiori said unhappily.

"Well you told me to be a monster and this is the way I'm acting in front of you!" Yukie snapped crossly, "I wish you would make up your mind!"

"She didn't mean what she said," Kaede said as she tried to help, "she's just worried that you're going to ignore her like you did when you and Jun were together."

"Is that true Shiori?"

Shiori nodded her head, she didn't want to speak to Yukie.

"Well you guys can rest easy, the boy I'm going out with isn't like Jun at all."

"So you are seeing a boy," said Naomi.

"Yes Naomi, I am seeing a boy and for your information, he's a kind sweet boy," Yukie never once looked back over to her baby sister, who was once again about ready to cry.

"Can you tell us what your boyfriend's name is?" Kaede asked.

"Well, he's an old friend of Matthew," Yukie answered, "my new boyfriend's name is...Patrick Salvagna."


	12. Losing Grip

Things sure are getting tense once again isn't it? Now the name of Yukie's new boyfriend has been revealed, yet Shiori is still upset. Just for the record, this chapter starts off on June 3rd, the rating is once again 'M' for some swearing is included and know that the title of this chapter was inspired by a song performed by Avril Lavigne. And now here's part 2.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 12: Losing Grip**_

"PATRICK SALVAGNA?" we all shouted in unison.

"Yes," Yukie answered again, "that is my boyfriend's name. We've been going out for three weeks now - I think this could be the start of a wonderful relationship."

"I don't think it's wonderful," said Shiori.

"Easy there Shiori," I whispered quietly, "you don't want to make the situation..."

But before I could finish what I was going to say, Yukie spoke up, "I don't really care what you think about my relationship you little brat! I'm going out with him and there's nothing you can say that will change my mind."

"There's no reason to yell at Shiori like that," Daisy snapped angerily, she was acting just like me (she's come a long way wouldn't you agree?) "I'm sure neither one of you meant what you said, so why don't you both say sorry and hug?"

"I don't think so," said Yukie firmly, "not after what she said to me."

"I won't apologize either," Shiori said as tears came down from her eyes, "I don't want to hear those words again."

"Oh really? And what are the words you don't want to hear?"

Shiori stood up and looked her sister in the eyes with a serious look, "they are as follows 'Leave Me Alone and don't call me your sister. Cause I'm sure not going to say that I have a sister'."

"Easy there Shiori," I whispered calmly.

"It's like I told you, I'm never going to bother you again. I'll let you be a bitch to everyone again."

"And they're off," I groaned, I knew that this was going to resort in another fight. Kaede, Primula, Naomi, the twins, Daisy, Lance and I walked out of the kitchen and over to the living room.

Even from the living room, we could hear the two sisters yelling at each other.

"That's not like Shiori," said Naomi, "she never swears."

"Never say never," Lance spoke up.

"Well at least we know it's not Patrick that's causing Yukie to change," I was saying, "Still, I wish those two would stop yelling and just try to patch things up again."

"That doesn't usually happen until you smack someone Big Bro."

"Yeah well I'm not going to do that this time Little Sis," I said firmly, "I only do that when someone is about to make a stupid decision."

"Like at Damon's wedding?" Daisy asked, I nodded my head.

"Or when Rin was close to dumping Asa?" Primula asked.

"Correct," I answered.

We then heard the kitchen door open, Yukie was walking out, she was looking really angry, "fine Shiori, if that's why you want it, I want bother you anymore. I tried hard to mend our friendship, but..."

"You did nothing of the sort!" Shiori snapped back, "You just want to hurt me over and over again. You enjoy watching people suffer."

"I do not!"

"You do so!"

It was clear to see that Yukie had had enough of fighting, "I'll tell mom and dad you're going to be late getting home," she said angerily as she walked over to the doorway. She got on her shoes and slid the door to the left, "just remember this Shiori, this whole mess is your fault - not mine."

"Get out of my sight," Shiori said angerily.

"Fine," Yukie huffed angerily and walked out the door.

There was a moment of silence in the entire house, that was until we heard Shiori crying her eyes out. Naomi and Lance walked out of the living room, they wanted to help calm Shiori down.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire," Daisy said out loud.

"You said it Daisy," said Monty, "this whole situation has spiraled out of control. If those two don't settle down and apologize, then..."

"They might get themselves into deep trouble," said Max, he knew what he brother was going to say, "it could be worse than what happened before. Yukie might actually hurt Shiori if she gets in her way."

Even I had to agree with the twins and Daisy, "I think I better go talk to Patrick about this, he might be the only person who can help."

Lucky for me that tonight was one of those nights where 'the guys' would meet up, so this was a perfect chance to talk to Patrick. I drove up to his place (as that's where we were to meet up and yes I told Kaede where I was going before I left), then after parking my truck, I walked up the pathway and rang the doorbell.

"Hey Matthew," said Patrick, "you're early buddy."

"Yeah I know...aren't I always early?" I asked, Patrick nodded his head. "Hey Patrick, I have to ask you, how's your relationship with Yukie going?"

He looked over to me completely shocked, "how did you know about that?" he asked.

"We found out from Shiori - it's a long story Patrick..."

So while he was getting his entertainment centre set up, I told him everything that's been going on over the last couple of days.

"...And there you have it, now both sisters are refusing to speak each other, each one is blaming the other one for the way they've been acting."

Patrick was indeed at a loss of words for a while anyways, "wow! That is bad - personally, I would never tell someone to stop loving that one person in their lives that makes them happy..." he looked back over to me, I had a real serious look on my face, "nowadays," he corrected himself, "I would never do that nowadays."

"Yeah I know - tell me though Patrick, if you were mad at someone, what would you do to try patch things up?"

"Well first of all, I would try to talk to the person..."

"Yukie and Shiori tried that, it only lead into a real serious argument," I interupted.

"Yeah that doesn't _always_ work. If that failed, I would fight them," he said, I looked at him with a strange look on my face, "not literally...nowadays...I mean fighting them using a game or sport. I know it sounds weird, but believe me when I say that it's worked in the past."

"Do you mind explaining that plan to me a little more?" I asked.

"Well, I would challenge that person to play a video game or play any sport of our choice - then as we play, we play out our frustrations until the end of the game. By then, the other person and I are no longer angry, so we say sorry and everything returns to normal."

"Okay I have to admit that's a good plan - it could work, but the only question is, how are we going to get those two to come over at the same time?"

"Simple, just don't say the other person isn't coming, that always works."

I chuckled quietly at that moment, "you know I have to admit that when it comes to mending friendships, you are a real expert Patrick."

"Well I wouldn't say that I'm an expert Matthew - I learned that from someone else - I learned it from you."

"What?"

"Don't you remember, back when we were kids? We got into a huge argument, we refused to say anything - then after a week, I challenged you to a game of basketball in the school yards and by the time it was over, we were friends once again."

"I wish I could remember that, but most of my memories of being a kid are blurs - I'm sure it'll come back to me someday, just not now."

Later on that evening as Kaede and I were getting changed into our pajamas, I was telling Kaede about what Patrick and I were talking about before.

"Do you really think it could work?" she asked me.

"I'm not completely sure," I answered her, "Patrick said it worked that one time when he and I weren't speaking to each other, but I'm not sure this idea will work with Yukie and Shiori."

"Well we won't know until we try."

"True," I walked over to our bed and sat down on top of our bed sheets, "you know one of the things Patrick said was that we should do is to let Shiori and Yukie try work things out alone, but..."

"It's not who you are," Kaede interupted kindly.

"Yeah, it's because I care about them, just like I care about everyone we know, from our sisters, our families and our friends and even you Kaede," she was blushing when I said that, "I don't like seeing anyone sad, so that's why I try to help them out."

By now, Kaede had gotten changed into her pajamas, she walked over to the bed, but got down on her knees as she stood in front of me, "and that's one of the reasons why I love you Matthew," she said, "You're always doing your best to help those you care about, you never stop until you see them smile - when you do that, it always make me feel proud to be your wife."

I just smiled as she said that, I could tell that she meant every word she just said.

We both got to our feet, then we hugged for a couple of minutes before we climbed into bed, said our goodnights and went off to sleep.

The next morning (June 4th), Patrick called Yukie and asked her if she could come over to visit him tonight. Naomi asked Shiori if she would like to hang out with her and Lance tonight (she didn't say where they were going to hang out at).

"Sure Naomi, I would love to hang out with you and Lance, personally - I want to get away from you know who."

"GET OFF THE PHONE!" Naomi could hear Yukie scream. Truth be told, even from where Kaede and I were, we could hear her too.

"I got to go, I'll talk to you Naomi," said Shiori.

"Yeah, I'll talk to you later Shiori."

After hanging up, she gave us a thumb up, that meant that all was going accordingly to plan.

"Now for the difficult part," I was saying to Kaede while we were folding laundry, "making sure those two don't storm off."

"I'll block the doorway," Primula said firmly. She was standing in the doorway and so was Daisy, she also agreed to help out too, "we won't let them leave until they patch up their friendship."

"That's sweet of you two," I said, "thanks."

"It's our pleasure," Daisy smiled.

After Kaede and I were done folding laundry, we went off to Patrick's house to help him get everything ready for tonight, "it's all set," he said, "Yukie doesn't even know that Shiori is coming over."

"Good, then the plan is working so far," I said quietly.

Later that night, Patrick drove up to Yukie's place to pick her up. As you can guess, she never said a word to Shiori as she walked out of the house. Once Yukie had gone, Shiori left to meet up with Lance and Naomi.

"Perfect timing Shiori," said Naomi as she saw her friend up to them.

"I left as soon as Yukie was out of the house," she said, "so where are we going tonight?"

"Sorry Shiori," said Lance, "Naomi and I would like to tell you, but for right now it's a surprise."

"It's okay - anything would be better than spending a night with Yukie the monster."

Both Naomi and Lance looked at each other with concerned looks on their faces, but didn't say a single word. All three of them walked down the street away from her neighbourhood and to where Patrick's house was.

Yukie was surprised to see Kaede and myself there, but she didn't say anything as we walked inside. We spent some time playing some of the video games Patrick had, just waiting for the next phase of the plan to be put into place.

"Big Bro?" I heard Naomi call, "are you here?"

"Yeah, I'm here," I called back.

Yukie looked over to the doorway (for the record, we are hanging out in Patrick's basement, that's where his entertainment room was), she gasped when she saw...

"Shiori?"

"Yukie?"

"What are you doing here?" they both asked in unison, "I asked you first! I was invited here!"

"Patrick?" Yukie asked, "Did you invite her here?"

"Nope," he answered, then he looked over to Shiori, "would you like to play for a bit? I would play, but I got a bit of a hand cramp." Patrick was of course lying, but it was the only way we could get the two sisters to play.

"Sure why not," Shiori sighed unhappily as she walked over to where Patrick was.

"If Shiori's going to play, then I'm out," snapped Yukie, she looked over to me, "do you want to play for a bit?"

"No thanks Yukie, I prefer just to watch tonight," I answered.

Yukie asked Naomi, Lance and Kaede, but they all said 'no thank you'. She looked over to Shiori with an angry look, "fine I'll play, but I want to make a little wager here. If I win, you stay away from me forever."

"Very well, and if I win, then you'll stay away from me forever."

"I don't like the sound of this wager," Kaede whispered to me. Even I had to admit that I didn't like hearing that.

Patrick brought out his 'Halo' video game for his X-Box, then he set everything up for a one on one match, whoever got a score of twenty five wins.

"It doesn't matter who wins here," Naomi was saying to Lance, "when this battle is over, those two will never speak to each other again."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much Naomi," he said sounding calm. Naomi looked up to his older brother a little confused, "I just have a feeling that when this game is over, those two will be good friends once again."

"I can't see how, but if you're thinking that way, then so do I."

I overheard Lance and I had to agree with what he just said.

Yukie and Shiori fought hard aganist each other for quite a long time, both were determined to win. First Yukie took the lead, then Shiori took the lead, this went back and forth for a while until they were tied at 23.

"Boy those two are really determined," said Daisy.

"You took the words out of my mouth," I whispered to her.

"Why don't you just give up and go home Shiori?" Yukie said angerily.

"And miss this chance to kick your sorry ass, I don't think so!" Shiori snapped back.

"Again she swears," Naomi muttered.

"I really wish you would stop swearing," said Yukie, "it's very rude - it's not like you to swear."

"Yeah well I can thank you for this," Shiori's character on the television attacked Yukie's character, killing it and giving her the lead once more, "it's because of your stupid attitude that I am like this."

"I did nothing wrong," Yukie snapped back as she killed Shiori's character, evening the score again, "I finally got myself a boyfriend who is kind and sweet, you should be happy."

"I would be, except you turn aganist me and leave me all alone. You did that many times in the past - and you're doing it now!"

"That's because you asked me too!"

"That's right, I asked you to be mean to me - it's because I didn't want to hear you say those words again. You really hurt my feelings when you first told me that, I used to look up to you as my hero and my idol - but when you said that, it really hurt me bad."

"I said sorry didn't I?"

"Not really, you never apologized for that!"

"Yes I did," Yukie snapped back, "I tried to repay you back by spending alot of time with you. I wanted to make it up to you and yet - you were the one who rejected me and threw me away like you did with the rest of the stuff I gave you."

"Well imagine how you would feel if you had an older sister who said that to you and begged for your forgiveness back? Think about how that would make you feel."

Just hearing Shiori say that reminded me of what Sakura was saying yesterday...

"_Well, let's say if I had an older sister who told me to leave her alone and never talk to her, it would hurt my feelings quite a bit_. _So when she asked for my forgiveness and then told the same crap again, I would yell at her too._"

"Well, I guess it would make me feel awful," Yukie answered, "I would probably yell at her just like you did."

Yukie looked over to Shiori, she had some tears in her eyes, but she was still determined to end the game, "I don't mind if you have a boyfriend, but I wish you wouldn't throw me away like a piece of garbage. The night you told me that, I stayed in my room and cried my eyes out for quite a long time..."

"Well I'm sorry if I made you cry," Yukie said, sounding a little calmer, "I never wanted to make you cry, I don't know why I said that."

Patrick walked over to where Kaede and I were, "looks like your plan is working once again Matthew," he whispered, "they're calming down and talking to each other again."

"It's a first step," I whispered back.

"They only have one minute left in the game," said Kaede.

She was right, there was only one minute left till it was game over. We were all hoping that neither sister would destory the other character, but they were still fighting each other.

"Were you really trying to make up for what you did?" Shiori asked, sounding calm too.

"I was - and I still want to. I might have a new boyfriend now, but I still want to spend time with my loveable baby sister. I don't know what I would do without you."

Shiori looked back over to her older sister and for the first time in a while, she showed a smile on her face. Yukie responded back with a smile of her own.

"GAME OVER!" the screen showed, it was a draw.

Both sisters got up from their chairs and stood there, face to face and without saying a single word to each other. Shiori's lips quivered for a moment, then she said, "I love you Yukie."

Yukie smiled as she walked towards her baby sister, she then wrapped her arms around her as she gave Shiori a hug, "And I love you too Shiori, I'm sorry for the way I acted."

"Well - I'm sorry for the way I acted."

Yukie got down to her knees, that way she was close to Shiori's height, then they hugged again. Both of them had tears in their eyes, but they were smiling once more.

"Your plan worked Big Bro," said Naomi.

"Actually, it was Patrick who came up with the plan."

"After you gave me some inspiration Matthew," he said, "so in reality, it's _your_ plan."

"Very well then," I said, then I looked back over to Yukie and Shiori, they were still hugging and smiling too.

Later on that evening, I was talking with my friends on the Sodor Island Forums, I was telling them about what happened with Yukie and Shiori.

"Once again Matthew," Warrior's message showed, "excitment just seems to follow you like a magnet the size of an elephant."

"I'm just happy that those two sisters are talking to each other again," said Sierracat27's message, "but I have to know, if one of them did win the game, do you think they would've gone threw with the wager."

"I don't think they would've gone threw with the wager, I'm sure they would've patched things up, even if one of them did win."

"I think we can all relate to what happened with Yukie and Shiori," said Anime Boy's message, "I'm sure we've all gone threw moments like that before and were able to patch things up after a while."

"Something like that happened when I was a kid," I replied back, "but only Patrick knows what happened - it's like I said before, I can't remember much from my childhood."

"I wouldn't worry about it Matthew," said jamesfan's message, "I'm sure you'll get that memory back soon."

"If it's anything like that one memory I got back on the 25th, it's probably better if I don't remember it at all."

I continued to talk with my friends for a while, then I read some new 'Single Story and Episode Ideas' for a few minutes. Then after that, I logged off and shut down my computer.

Just as I was shutting down, Kaede came into the bedroom, she closed the door and locked it. I got up from my chair, then we started to get undressed in front of each other until we were both naked. I layed down on the bed first, then Kaede came over and layed down on top of me.

"I hope you don't mind if I keep the window open," I said.

"I don't mind - as long as the curtain is closed," she giggled quietly.

"Of course it's closed," I chuckled.

Kaede and I stared into each other's eyes, then we kissed on the lips for a grand total of four minutes.

"Well I'll see you in the morning Matthew."

"And I'll see you in the morning Kaede," I winked at her once again, she giggled happily, but she didn't move back down - not just yet. She moved up a bit and kissed me on the right side of my face.

I then kissed her on the right side of her face, but she didn't move back down, she stayed where she was - staring into my eyes while I stared into her eyes.

"I love you Matthew."

"And I love you too Kaede," then I asked, "before you go to sleep, would you like to hear another song?"

"Yes," she answered.

"Okay then," I reached over to the bookshelf for my Ipod. I searched threw the list and soon found the song I was looking for, it's called "My Wish" by "Rascal Flatts".

_I hope the days come easy and the_

_ moments pass slow_

_ And each road leads you where you_

_ want to go_

_ And if you're faced with the choice_

_ and you have to choose_

_ I hope you choose the one that_

_ means the most to you_

_ And if one door opens to another_

_ door closed_

_ I hope you keep on walkin' till you_

_ find the window_

_ If it's cold outside, show the world_

_ the warmth of your smile_

_ But more than anything_

_ more than anything_

_ My wish for you_

_ Is that this life becomes all that_

_ you want it to_

_ Your dreams stay big, your worries_

_ stay small_

_ You never need to carry more_

_ than you can hold_

_ And while you're out there gettin'_

_ where you're gettin' to_

_ I hope you know somebody loves you_

_ And wants the same things too_

_ Yeah, this is my wish_

_ I hope you never look back but you never forget_

_ All the ones who love you_

_ And the place you left_

_ I hope you always forgive and you never regret_

_ And you help somebody every chance you get_

_ Oh, you find God's grace in every mistake_

_ And always give more than you take_

_ But more than anything, yeah more than anything_

_ My wish for you_

_ Is that this life becomes all that_

_ you want it to_

_ Your dreams stay big, your worries_

_ stay small_

_ You never need to carry more_

_ than you can hold_

_ And while you're out there gettin'_

_ where you're gettin' to_

_ I hope you know somebody loves you_

_ And wants the same things too_

_ Yeah, this is my wish_

_ My wish for you_

_ Is that this life becomes all that_

_ you want it to_

_ Your dreams stay big, your worries_

_ stay small_

_ You never need to carry more_

_ than you can hold_

_ And while you're out there gettin'_

_ where you're gettin' to_

_ I hope you know somebody loves you_

_ And wants the same things too_

_ Yeah, this is my wish_

_ This is my wish_

_ I hope you know somebody loves you_

_ May all your dreams stay big_

When I was done, Kaede kissed me on the lips once again. She didn't need to say anything, I knew she liked hearing me sing that song. She moved back down till her head was resting on my chest, then she closed her eyes and went to sleep. Just before I closed my eyes, I heard her say, "I love you, I love you," in her sleep.

I smiled as I rubbed her back nice and gently. Then after a few minutes, I closed my eyes and went off to sleep, dreaming about Kaede.


	13. The Return of Charlie Banks

For this chapter, just as the title says, Charlie Banks returns and recalling the way he was acting before he went to jail, his return is not going to be sweet or kind at all. This chapter starts off on June 5th 2011, the rating is M for swearing and there is a few cute moments due to come up in this story too. Anyhow, here's the next episode of the series, enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 13: The Return of Charlie Banks**_

On Sunday June 5th, Naomi, Daisy, Primula, Max, Monty, Lance, Kaede and I were invited over to Yukie and Shiori's place to swim in their newly opened pool.

"It's huge!" gasped Naomi when she saw it.

"It is," agreed Yukie, then she looked down to her little sister, "you did a great job keeping the pool nice and clean Shiori."

"Thanks Yukie," she said with a smile.

Just to let you guys know, we had gotten changed at our houses just before we came here. Naomi looked up to me with an angry look on her face, "we would've been late getting here, no thanks to your truck," she looked over to Yukie and Shiori, "it nearly broke down on us again."

"It was blowing off smoke on the way," said Primula out loud.

Both Yukie and Shiori looked over to me, "before you suggest that I should take the truck to a mechanic, I've taken that truck to a few dozen mechanics over the last few months and yet it's still breaking down on me."

"Can't be helped," said Yukie kindly, "the important thing is that you're here now - now, who wants to swim?"

"We all do," we all shouted in unison.

We had a wonderful time that day, some of us would swim in the pool, or lay on one of the lawn chairs. Both Yukie and Shiori made us dinner using the barbacue.

"How am I doing Yukie?" Shiori asked.

"You're doing just fine Shiori," Yukie smiled, "all those lessons you've been taking are being off."

Shiori smiled as she gave her sister a hug. Looks like what happened most recently has been forgotten, it was good to see their bond restored once more.

We returned back to our house at around nine that evening. Poor Naomi had a bad case of sunburn.

"Ow!" she cried, "it hurts!"

"I tried to warn you," said Daisy, trying to sound like me, "I warned you that you have to wear sunscreen or you would get sunburn, but you didn't listen to me."

Primula got out the special lotion used for the sunburns while Kaede and I went upstairs went up to our room. Max and Monty went home a few minutes ago, but not before saying good night to their girlfriends.

When we got upstairs, Kaede layed down on our bed, then I climbed over till we were face to face. Our lips moved closer to each other until they connected as we kissed for a few minutes. After the kiss, we both got up till we were sitting up, I was holding onto Kaede's right hand. I kissed it a few times before I saw that look in Kaede's eyes.

"Would you like to make..."

"I love to," she smiled.

I got up from the bed, shut the door, locked it and turned off the lights.

The next morning, Kaede was the first to wake up, she could smell that interesting smell in the air - it was the smell of love. She looked down to the floor and saw her bikini bathing suit laying there on top of my swimming trunks. Her light green shirt was sitting on our dresser, it was sitting next to my light blue shirt (I only wear that shirt when we go out to the beach or pool in yesterday's case, it was the actual shirt I was wearing on the night of our first date).

There was nothing covering us, truth be told - our blanket was sitting underneath us.

She rubbed my right shoulder softily, I slowly opened my eyes and looked to see my beautiful wife show her trademark smile.

"Good morning my king," she whispered softily.

"Good morning my queen," I whispered back to her. She rubbed the right side of my face with her right hand, she moved up a bit then we kissed on the lips for a minute. "Did you sleep well last night?" I asked.

"I did," she answered me.

We were quiet for a few seconds before I asked, "What time is it?"

"Five fifteen. Why?"

"I'm just wondering - Kaede, would you like to take a shower with me?"

"I love to, but first - can we just stay here for a while - please?"

"Sure...honey," I said kindly, she blushed the very second I said that word.

She moved to my right side, then she lifted the extra blanket we have under our bed and covered herself and myself with it. We layed there side by side and staring into each other's eyes, still smiling throughout the entire time. I ran my left hand's fingers threw her slightly messy hair while she placed her right hand on my left shoulder and wrapped it gently.

We didn't say very much, but that was okay - we were just happy being together.

At around five thirty, we finally got up from our bed and walked over to the washroom where we had our shower.

"Hey Kaede?"

"Yeah?"

"Would it be okay if I wash your hair this morning?" I asked, she nodded her head happily, "okay then, just let me know if the soap is too close to your eyes or if I scrubbing too hard okay?"

"Okay Matthew," she said.

I poured some shampoo into my right hand (we use 'Head & Shoulders'), then I started scrubbing it into her hair. I rubbed her hair nice and smoothily, she never once said if I was rubbing too hard or if the soap was getting into her eyes.

"Are you okay Kaede?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," she said happily. She turned around so that we were face to face once again, "don't stop Matthew."

I smiled, then I continued washing her hair. Once the soap was in her hair, I grabbed the shower head and used it to wash the soap away. Once it was out, I put the shower head back in it's stand, then we washed ourselves after that.

I looked back over to Kaede, she was blushing happily.

After our shower, I got on my housecoat, then I went back to our room to get our clothes. Then once we were changed into our clothes, we walked off for the kitchen, side by side and with our hands holding onto each other.

Breakfast was once again delicous this morning, it was all made by Kaede. Then as I was leaving, earlier than normal today, Kaede gave me my lunch.

"Thank you Kaede," I smiled.

"You're welcome," she smiled back, then she walked up to me, got up on her toes and kissed me on the lips for a minute and half, "have a good day at work okay?"

"Okay."

Kaede stayed in the doorway and waved to me until I had gotten into my truck and drove off to work.

The day was okay, Al and I talked alot about important security programs needed to keep a computer safe from Viruses. We even showed what can happen if a computer isn't completely safe.

After working for an entire of working on the set and after cleaning up, Al and I walked off back to our vehicles. His car started perfectly, but as you can guess - my truck stalled on me and wouldn't start.

"Dammit!" I snapped.

"Hey Matthew, need a hand?" Al called from his car.

"Yeah I do need a hand!"

I popped the hood of my truck, then Al took a look at the engine, "it looks worn out Matthew, I think it's about time you get a new truck." Still, he did fix the problem and my truck started up perfectly.

"Thanks again Al."

"No problem, well - I'll see you later."

Once he was back in his car, he drove off back to his place. I left a minute later, I had the radio playing this time, I do listen to the local radio station here in Tokyo. I wasn't too far from the parking lot when I saw a rusty car racing towards me.

"Something tells me that person is going to ram me," I thought to myself.

I was right, that person rammed my truck hard in the back. Then that person drove up to the left side of my truck and bashed it with the car.

"What's this guy's..." before I could finish my thoughts, I saw who the crazied wacko was...it was Charlie Banks and oh boy was he ever mad when he saw me.

"YOU'LL PAY!" he shouted and rammed my truck again.

"Knock it off!" I snapped as I rammed his car with my truck, "What's he doing out of jail anyways?" I thought.

"Matthew?" called a voice threw my CB radio (I didn't take it out of my truck after the big trip), "it's Damon, come in buddy! There's something I need to tell you!"

I picked up the microphone and spoke into it, "if it's about Charlie Banks coming after me with a rusty old car, then don't worry - I already know..." he bashed my truck again, "he's trying to run me off the road. What's he doing out of jail anyways?"

"He escaped, we don't know how he did it."

"Seems like alot of my foes always escape from your jail," I groaned, "hold on a second..."

Charlie's car tried to smash my truck, but I drove out of the way, then I bashed his right side door.

"You better get out here and help me, otherwise he's going to destory my truck...and myself in the process."

"We're already on it!" said Damon. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw there were seven police cars coming up. But Charlie wouldn't stop what he was doing.

He bashed my left side door again, "Why you!" I snarled angerily, "I'll teach you."

With that said, I rammed my truck into his car. Police officers call this move, the Procession Immobilisation Technique or the P.I.T. Manoeuvre.

"Nice P.I.T. Matthew," called Damon, "But you better back off and let us handle this."

"I would, but I don't think Charlie is going to let me get away."

I could still remember those words he said to me when he was taken away, "_this isn't over Matthew Gagnon, not by a long shot - I'll get even with you someday_..."

I looked to the direction of Charlie's car, he was still trying to bash me off the road.

"Yep, he's still mad at me."

I drove on ahead, trying to get away from Charlie, but he kept following. Since that wasn't working, I slammed on the brakes and awaited for the impact - he car bashed into the back of my truck, smashing both of our bumpers off.

"That was stupid," I groaned.

I put my foot down on the pedal hard and drove on even faster, I couldn't let Charlie hit me again. At last, I drove into an abandoned parking lot where I could get away from Charlie. It worked, he didn't see me go in there.

"Phew!" I gasped. I watched as he drove by and so did several other police cars.

My cellphone rang at that moment, I looked at the screen and saw it was Kaede's number (just for the record, Kaede gave me this cellphone last christmas, I didn't have one when I moved in with her).

"Where are you Matthew? Do you have some extra work to do on the set?"

"Not excatly," I answered her, that's when I noticed Charlie's coming into the parking lot.

"Is something wrong?" Kaede asked me with a worried tone in her voice.

"There is - Charlie is coming after me again..." I was cut off when my truck was bashed again. My cellphone flew out of my hands and landed somewhere in the back seat. I was okay, but Kaede wasn't sure - my poor wife could now hear everything that was going on.

I put my truck in gear and drove out of the parking lot, Charlie's car followed along right behind my truck while the seven police cars followed behind. I could hear Kaede call in pure panic, but I couldn't get to my cellphone at that moment. I drove on, even when the concrete road turned to gravel.

Charlie's car came up again and bashed the rear end of my truck.

"Back off!" I shouted angerily.

Charlie didn't back off, instead - he showed a middle finger to me. That didn't last as Damon's police car came up behind Charlie's car and P.I. him. That gave me the chance I needed to get away from him - I smashed threw a fence and drove into an old cornfield.

I shut off the engine, then sighed heavily.

"Man that guy doesn't give up," I groaned.

"Matthew!" cried a voice from the back seat. I had been so focused on getting away from Charlie that I forgot that my cellphone was in the back seat. I looked to the back seat until I finally found my cellphone, "Matthew, are you there? Are you okay?"

"Yes I'm here, I'm alright," I answered her, I heard her sigh and panting, she must've been worrying so much during the chase, "just calm down okay? I'm alright. Although I can't say the same about the truck, Charlie bashed it good and even broke my back bumper off."

"Where is Charlie now?"

"I don't know where he is, last I saw him, the police were chasing him away from where I am now."

"Where are you anyways?"

"I'm an old cornfield, not sure where though...Kaede, I'll be coming home soon...without the truck, I'll talk to you later."

"Okay Matthew," she said still sounding worried.

I knew I had to stop Charlie here and now and there was only one way to do - smash my truck into Charlie's car and destory them both. If I know Charlie, he'll bail out of the car before the collision - he always plays chicken when it comes to face to face fights.

I grabbed the microphone and called out to Damon, "Damon, I need you to lead Charlie to the cornfield, I'll take care of him. I would like to ask you though to stay back once you get him here."

"Are you sure buddy?" he called back.

"I'm sure."

"Very well then, we're driving up to the field now - Charlie's leading us there..."

All I could do now was to wait. I just couldn't believe I had to do this...

I remembered when I got this truck...

_"Are you sure you wouldn't like another vehicle sir, that truck is quite old."_

_ "No, this is perfect, this is just the truck I was looking for, I'll take it."_

_ "Very well sir."_

After that day, I would use my truck to go anywhere I wanted - which was good whenever I wanted to get away from my parents and their constant fighting. I took this truck on many runs into the town of Markville or even go to Toronto where some of my friends lived.

It was hard to imagine that it had been five years since I got this 1995 GMC pickup truck in that used car lot and now after all that time, it was on the verge of breaking down completely and I had to use it to stop Charlie Banks.

"We almost at the field Matthew," Damon called through the CB radio, "are you ready?"

"Yeah I'm ready," I called back, "remember - stay out of this fight."

"You got it!"

I could see Charlie's car coming towards the field, I revved the engine, only to have smoke come out, it was ready to break down one more time. "Don't break down on me, oh please don't break down on me," I muttered quietly.

At last Charlie's car came into the field, the police cars stayed far back behind the gate.

"Here we go!" I shouted and put my foot down hard on the pedal. My truck's wheel spun on the mud for a few seconds, then I charged towards Charlie's car. I gave it a few more bashes on both sides and managed to knock his back bumper off.

"I'm not going to let you continue with this stupid game," I snarled as I bashed his back end again.

Charlie bashed my truck up a few more times, but that only resulted in more bumps from me. A helicopter appeared out of nowhere with a television crew.

"Damn," I snapped, "now everyone can see this, I have to stop him now!"

I drove the truck back and stopped. Charlie spun his car around. We were now face to face, I knew this was risky, but I knew Charlie Banks better than anyone else so I knew he would jump out of the car.

He drove straight towards me, I put my foot down on the pedal and raced towards him. We got closer and closer, then he jumped out, "I knew it," I thought. I opened the door, then I took a daring jump, landing on the dry mud. My truck continued on until it smashed right into Charlie's car. It flew into the air after exploding on impact, then the truck landed on top of Charlie's car, which caught on fire in an instant.

I stared at the wreck, then I ran over to where Charlie was, he was trying to escape again, but I didn't him get away, I did a flying tackle and knocked him down.

"Gagnon..." Charlie snarled.

"Don't you dare say a word right now Charlie," I snalred angerily, "if you do, then you're going back to jail with a fat lip - so do me a favour and keep that trap of yours shut!"

Charlie did just that and to make sure he didn't escape, I had him pinned down hard, he was going nowhere.

The fire department soon arrived to put the fires out, and Charlie was arrested once more, he didn't put up a fight. I was looking at the damaged car and truck. It had been burned to a crisp, it couldn't be saved at all.

"I'm sorry Matthew," said Damon.

"It's okay, it's just a truck after all. It was on it's way out anyways, at least now it went out in the blaze of glory," I was trying to make what I said a joke, but...nah!

"Come on buddy, I'll drive you home."

"Thanks Damon - Kaede must be worried sick."

So along the way back to my house, I called Kaede and told her that I was on my way home, she sounded relieved to hear my voice again. The moment we arrived and I stepped out of the cop car, Kaede ran up to me and gave me a hug, she had a terrified look on her face and some tears in her eyes. I thanked Damon for the ride, then I walked with Kaede back inside the house.

After an hour, she finally calmed down.

"What are you going to do now Big Bro?" Naomi asked.

"I'll have to ask Lisa if I can ride with her to work tomorrow," I groaned, "until I can get a new vehicle."

Or so I thought...

The next morning, I was getting my shoes on when I saw Kaede come up towards me and give me another hug, "I know it was stupid of me to do what I did, and I'm sorry Kaede," I said kindly, "I'll find a way to make it up to you."

"You don't need to," she said, "I'm just so happy to see that you're okay."

I just smiled as I wrapped my arms around Kaede.

Just then, we heard the doorbell ring. Kaede and I seperated then she went to see who it was, it was Lisa.

"Hey Matthew, hey Kaede," she said happily.

"Hey Lisa, well I'm ready to go and I think our sisters are to."

"Alright - oh but before we go, when did you get that truck?"

I looked to the street, I thought Lisa was joking - she wasn't. She lead both Kaede and I down the pathway, then out to the street - I got quite a shock, for there was a Chevy Blazer sitting where my old truck used to be.

"Where did this truck come from?" I asked.

"We got it for you buddy!" called Al, he appeared from behind the Blazer, he wasn't alone as Damon was there too, "it came all the way from America, we ordered it just for you."

"But how did you guys know..."

"Why not ask Kaede?" suggested Damon, I looked back towards her, she was all smiles and giggling, "she told us that you wanted a Chevy Blazer. Consider it a gift from all of us and other officers in the force."

I looked at the blazer, it looked so much like the truck that my dad used to have when I was a kid, except for the sterio, it had been changed to a CD player and also had speakers under the second seat in the back.

"Hope you like it buddy," said Al.

Lisa tossed me the keys, then I sat down on the driver's seat and placed the keys in the ignition hole - I paused for a second, then I turned the key - it started perfectly.

"Thank you everyone," I smiled, "this is just the kinda truck I needed."

"You should be thanking Kaede," said Lisa, "this was her idea after all."

I got out of the truck and walked over to my beautiful wife, "thank you so much Kaede," I said happily.

"You're welcome Matthew."

"Why don't you go out for a little drive," suggested Lisa, "Al and I will tell Mr. Quinten that you're going to be a little late."

"Okay," Kaede and I said in unison.

I held the door open for Kaede as she sat down in the passenger seat (just to note that the blazers usually have a compartment for whatever you want to put in there, it usually sat in the middle of the front seat, but Al had removed it and gave the blazer a complete seat), then once I had gotten over to my seat, I climbed in and sat down in the driver's seat.

Kaede moved over till she was sitting beside me, literally.

"I love you Kaede," I said as I kissed her forehead.

"And I love you too Matthew," she said while blushing, then she kissed me back - this time on the lips.

Once we had our seatbelts on, we drove away from the house and down the city streets. The Chevy Blazer ran perfectly and as for the sterio, it was pefect too, it played my Mix CDs perfectly.

"Thanks again Kaede, this is really sweet of you."

"You're welcome Matthew," she said happily as we drove on down the streets.


	14. Forbidden Love

Another roll and another writing spree again! This time Sia and Dave are getting into the episode and showing the minor problems they face with Sia's father and Kikyou disapproving their relationship - don't you just hate it when that happens? Now, this chapter starts off on the afternoon of June 7th, which also happens to be the first day that 'Matthew' gets that new Chevy Blazer. Anyways, this episode is rated M for there is going to be a lot of swearing some point in this episode and yes there's another cute moment in this episode later on too. Oh and the scene where Sia and Dave are on their date in the city and when they're in Dave's house, that's when it's third person narration. And now here's the fourteenth episode of 'Our Kinda Life'.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 14: Forbidden Love**_

Kaede went with me to work, she enjoyed the show today, especially when I looked over to her and winked. Then after work, she and I went for another drive around the city in the new Chevy Blazer. She rested her head on my right shoulder during the entire trip, she looked so beautiful (as always she is beautiful).

When we got back to our house, she helped give the truck a nice wash.

Naomi was standing just outside the gate with her brother, Lance, "it's a nice truck Big Bro," said Naomi, "but I thought for sure that you would get a minivan."

"I would never get a minivan," I said firmly, "and for your information Little Sis, this was a gift from Kaede."

"And some of our friends too," Kaede added as she continued washing the windows on the inside.

Before anyone of us could say anything, we heard two other beings coming down the road. We all looked and saw Kikyou and Sia - Kikyou was looking very happy, but Sia was not.

"Don't be so sad Sia," Kikyou chuckled, "Some of us were born to drive, while others like _you_..." Kikyou coughed when she said 'you', "are not."

"Shut up you!"

"Make me!"

"I swear I will you b..."

"Whoa Sia, there's no need to swear, especially in front of the young ones."

"Doesn't really bother me that much," said Lance, "I hear people swear all the time at my school," he then looked over to the two sisters, "so what seems to be the trouble?"

I looked over to Lance a little surprised, "are you reading my mind? Cause that's what I was going to ask." I asked, Lance just chuckled, he didn't reply back.

"Kikyou got her driver's license today," Sia sighed unhappily, "I failed."

"It's like I said..." Kikyou was saying, but I interupted her.

"We heard what you said Kikyou," I said firmly, "but there's no need to tease Sia."

"Oh but there is," she chuckled as she walked up the pathway to their house, "I can tease her about anything!"

Sia only groaned as she followed her sister up the pathway. We were mostly quiet for a few seconds after that, that was until Naomi broke the silence, "okay, that is just plain rude. I would never act like that..." she looked at Lance and then me, we were looking at her with stern looks on our faces, "nowadays," Naomi said quietly.

Later that night, I walked out to the backyard. Daisy was out there, she was laying down on the grass and looking up to the stars.

"It's so peaceful out here," she said quietly, "now I know why so many people like camping out under the stars."

I was about to reply back to her when we both heard some loud shouting coming from Sia and Kikyou's house, "ah, so much for the peaceful moment," Daisy sighed unhappily, "I wonder what's going on over there."

We were due to find out - Sia stormed out of the house angerily, with her father following close behind.

"I'm telling you Sia!" Eustoma shouted, "you can't go out tonight!"

"And why the hell not? I'm a grown woman, I can go out anytime I want!"

"You will not use that kind of language in front of me! I'm still your father Sia and I am ordering you to stay here tonight."

"Forget it!" Sia stormed down the pathway, opened the wooden gates, then she slammed them hard. She leaned aganist the gate and panted heavily while some tears came out from her eyes.

"Hey Sia," Daisy called as she stood near our gate, "is everything okay?"

"Not really," she sighed, then she looked down the street. Daisy looked too and saw Dave coming up, "hey Dave, thanks for coming - I really need to talk to you."

Dave was quiet for a few seconds, then he spoke, "you're looking so pale, is everything okay?"

"Not really, I'll tell you about it later okay?" She held out her right hand and Dave grabbed it with his left hand, then they walked off down the street.

Daisy looked back over to me, "do you know what's going on Matt?"

"Yeah I know what's going on," I sighed just as Daisy walked over to where I was and sitting down where she was before, "both Kikyou and the king of the realm of the gods hate the idea of Sia going out with Dave, so they're doing what they can to keep those two apart."

"That's not right," Daisy said angerily, "it's Sia's choice if she wants to be with Dave, it's not up to them."

"Yeah well you might want to tell that to them..." I said.

"Which is impossible," said a voice from behind us. Both Daisy and I were taken by surprise when we heard that voice, it was Primula (she's still sneaking up behind people and taking them by surprise), "Sorry," she said quietly.

"That's okay Primula," I said while panting.

"Can you please stop sneaking up behind us?" Daisy asked while panting, Primula nodded her head in agreement, "and what did you mean that talking to them about this kinda stuff is imposssible?"

"They're both stubborn," Primula answered, "They won't listen. Eustoma likes to see himself as the ruler of everything, which includes his daughter and as for Kikyou, she's still upset that Dave chose Sia."

"Yeah that's it excatly," I said, "I think Kikyou showed that when she and Sia got into a huge fight that one morning."

At this time, Sia and Dave were still walking along throughout the city streets. Sia was being quiet, which made Dave worry, "Sia..."

"It's my father and sister too," Sia answered before Dave could say anything, "my sister is upset that we are together and as for my father, he doesn't like the idea of a human boy dating me."

"What?" Dave asked in complete shock, "he's okay with Rin going out with you, yet he hates my guts?"

"It's true," Sia sighed unhappily, "but I don't care what they think, I love you Dave and I don't want to lose you."

"Well I love you too Sia, I don't want to lose you either."

The two of them were quiet for a while longer as they came up to a small little resturant, known only as 'Mike's Diner' (no it's not owned by my buddy Michael), this was one of their favourite places.

As they waited for their meals to come to the table, Sia said, "I wish I could just get away from those two for one night. It's like I said before, they are driving me nuts!"

"Well...why don't you spend the night at my place?" Dave suggested, Sia looked over to him surprised.

"What did you just say?" she asked.

"Ah...nothing, sorry I didn't..."

"No, no - ask me again."

"Well, I said 'why don't you spend the night at my place?'," Dave was blushing at this time, "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you Sia, I just want to help you."

Dave was expecting to hear Sia yell at him, but she didn't yell.

"Are you serious Dave?" she asked while blushing.

"Yeah, yeah I'm being serious."

"Well I love to, but...what about your brother?"

"He's not going to be in tonight, he said something about spending all night with Nerine - or something like that, I didn't hear him that well, I was busy working when he told me that."

"In that case, I would love to spend the night with you - just let me call my mom and let her know."

"Okay - oh but don't say that you're spending the night with me."

"Don't worry, I won't say that - I'll just tell her that I'm spending the night somewhere else tonight."

So Sia made her call. Her mother knew she was going to spend the night at Dave's house, but promised not to say a single word to Eustoma or Kikyou.

Then an hour later, after eating and paying for their meal, the two of them walked off back to Dave's house.

"If you want Sia, I can give you my bed, I'll take the couch okay?"

"No," she said quietly. Dave looked over to her a little confused, "I want _you_ to spend the night with _me_," she said in a way that Dave had never heard from her before.

"Sure," Dave smiled.

So once the door was unlocked, Dave carried Sia into the house, bridal style, then they headed off for Dave's bedroom...

The next morning, I was just coming downstairs for some nice breakfast, when I heard some loud shouting coming from Sia and Kikyou's house, "oh no, what are they fighting about now?"

I walked over to the doorway, Kaede was there, she was concerned about the yelling.

I tapped her on the right shoulder, she turned around to look at me, "hey Matthew," she said sweetly, "if you're wondering what's going, I have no idea what's going on over there, the king is arguing with his wife."

"Really?" I asked sounding confused. For as long as I've been living in this house, I've never heard Eustoma yell at his wife, Cineraria.

We could hear their door open, now we could hear everything they were saying.

"You let her stay at a friend's place all night?" Eustoma cried out loud.

"Yes I did," said Cineraria, "Sia is _not_ a child anymore honey, she's more than allowed to go wherever she wants and spend time with whoever she wants!"

"Not as long as she's my daughter! I want her at home at a regular time!"

"Oh and what is that regular time?"

"Nine thirty!"

"That's too early! As I said, Sia is allowed to stay out as long as she wants, as long as she calls to let us know. She called and told me that she was going to be out late!"

"Fine!" we heard Eustoma sigh, "So where is she anyways?"

"Just leave her alone, she deserves to be alone."

With that said, Cineraria walked back into the house, Eustoma only grunted.

I looked down to Kaede with a serious look on my face, "I think I know where Sia went last night," I whispered to her, "And I think I know what she did."

"Do you really think she did it?"

"I think she _and_ Dave did..."

They had done it, Sia and Dave did indeed make love to each other last night. When she woke up, Sia felt happy for the first time in a while, especially as she looked to Dave's face.

"Dave...Dave..." she whispered.

Dave opened his eyes - he gasped when he saw Sia without her clothes on, then he looked down and noticed that _he_ wasn't wearing anything either, "S..Si...Sia," he said nervously, "did we really just..."

"Yes we did," she answered him, "you were wonderful last night."

Dave blushed into a deep shade of red while Sia blushed a small shade of red.

"Oh, but don't say anything to anyone okay? If my dad or Kikyou find out, they'll kick the crap out of me - actually, they'd probably kill me."

"Don't worry Sia, this will be _our_ little secret."

Sia smiled, but then she frowned, "oh dammit, I don't have an extra set of clothes to wear."

"It's okay Sia, I'll wash your clothes for you - and I'll stay here with you today."

That made Sia feel much better.

After the long working day, I drove up back to the house. When I got there, I was greeted by a very angry looking Kikyou and she wasn't alone, Eustoma stood close by and he looked ticked off too.

"What seems to be the problem this time?" I asked.

"It's Sia," said Eustoma, "she didn't come home last night and she's not back yet."

"She's dead meat," Kikyou said darkly.

I only shook my head as I shut the door of my truck, "look you two, you should leave Sia alone okay? She isn't a child afterall..."

"I don't want her going out with Dave," Eustoma said firmly, "I don't want her to get pregnant like Ms. Asa Shigure."

Before I could say anything to defend Sia, I heard a shout from behind me, "it's none of your business of what I do! So why don't you butt out?"

I backed off and leaned aganist my truck, "this could get ugly," I thought to myself.

"Where were you all night?" asked Eustoma angerily.

Before Sia could answer his question, she noticed Kikyou was sniffing, "why do you clothes smell like they've just been washed?"

"It's none of your business!" Sia snapped angerily.

Kaede came out to see me, she walked over towards me, "how long has this been going on?"

"It just got started," I whispered to her.

Kikyou looked shocked at that moment, "Sia, you didn't...you didn't!" (I think Kikyou knows what Sia had done the night before). Before Kikyou could finish, Sia ran the other way and down the street. Her father yelled at her, but she didn't stop - she ran on till she was out of sight.

"She and Dave..."

"I know," Eustoma groaned loudly before Kikyou could speak, "she's going to be in a lot of trouble when she gets back in."

With that said, he walked off back to the house. Kikyou swore loudly, then she walked off back to the house, still swearing very loudly.

"Yeah, this situation not only got ugly, but it's spiraled out of control," I said after a while, "I think I know where Sia went..."

"Back to Dave's place right?" Kaede asked me. I nodded my head, she was correct. We both got into the truck and drove off to the Sutton twin's house.

Sure enough when we got there, we found Sia, she was crying into some tissues while Dave patted her back softly and whispered, "it's okay Sia, it's okay."

Daryl was the one who invited us in.

"At least you and Rina don't have to deal with an angry father and a sister that doesn't think before she acts," Sia sobbed sadly.

"What were you doing last night anyways?" Dave asked.

"Don't you know, Nerine invited me to sleep over with her last night, she had her bed while I slept on a sleeping bag. I told you that yesterday, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Dave said quietly.

"I'm screwed now," said Sia sadly, "I'm sure my dad will kick me out of the house - and Kikyou's sure to find a way to make the situation worse."

"I don't think your father will throw you out," I said as kindly as I could.

"Sorry if I don't believe you Matthew - remember you were disowned by your parents."

"True - but every situation is different Sia, I'm sure if you, your parents and your sister sit down and talk, I'm sure that all will be forgiven."

"And if it's not?"

"Well then you can say that I was wrong. So what do you say Sia, do you want to go back and talk?"

Sia didn't answer for a long period of time, she just looked down to the floor with a sad look on her face. She then felt Dave's hand holding onto her hand, "I'll go with you okay?"

"Okay - thanks Dave. Let's go."

Sia and Dave rode with Kaede and myself back to the house. When we pulled up outside of Sia's place, we could see Kikyou, Eustoma and Cineraria waiting on the porch, they didn't look too happy.

"Are you sure talking will help?" Sia asked me.

"I'm sure," I said.

Once we got out of the truck, Dave and Sia walked up the pathway, Kaede and I followed along closely behind.

"I think we need to talk," Sia said quietly.

"Indeed," Eustoma said firmly.

The main reason Kaede and I were tagging along was so that we could help (as you know, we like to help our friends no matter what the situation). Nobody said a single word for three minutes after we came into the living room.

"The silent treatment, boy do I hate the silent treatment," I whispered to Kaede, who nodded in agreement.

At last Sia spoke up, "look, I know Dave and I shouldn't have done what we did last night and I'm sorry," still there was silence.

Dave spoke up next, "ever since Sia and I became a couple, you guys, except for you Cineraria," he said while looking over to Sia's mother, "have been aganist our relationship. I think the reason Sia and I did what we did last night was to prove to you guys that we really don't care what you think of our relationship - plus we really wanted to be together."

"What do you have aganist their relationship anyways?" I asked Eustoma.

"I don't like the idea of a human dating my Sia, especially a Canadian boy."

I looked at him with an almost angry look, but mostly showing how shocked I was to hear that, "is that so," I walked over to where he was and looked at him with a stern look, "what do you have aganist canadians huh? In case you've forgotten, I happen to be a Canadian and I happen to be married to a Japanese girl - so does that mean you're aganist my marriage with Kaede?"

Eustoma looked at me completely shocked, but didn't say anything. Kikyou was about to say something, "shut up Kikyou!" I said firmly.

She gasped and then went into silence.

"I think the reason you're disaproving of Sia and Dave's relationship is because deep down, you still love your little girl and you're not ready to let her go yet. You're upset to see her with someone else, so you take it out on both Dave and your own daughter and say things I know you don't mean, I'm sure you would've done the same thing if Rin _did_ pick Sia to be his girlfriend."

"You are right Matthew," he sighed unhappily, "you are right about everything, and I'm sorry if I insulted you just then, I'm not aganist your marriage to Ms. Kaede" he then looked over to his daughter and Dave, "I'm sorry for the way I acted in front of you two, I'll find a way to make it up to you."

"Thanks daddy," said Sia, "and I'm sorry again for swearing, shouting and running off."

"And for..." Kikyou began.

"Shut up Kikyou!" Dave, Sia and I shouted in unison. She went quiet again. Sia got up from her chair and walked over towards her father, she then gave him a hug, he hugged her right back.

Kaede and I walked out of their living room, we thought it was best to let this little 'family' spend some time alone.

Later that night, Kaede and I were laying down on the grass and looking up to the stars again. We could hear Sia walking away from her house again, but this time there wasn't any yelling.

"I'll be back before ten okay?" she called to her father.

"No it's not okay," he said, there was silence, "you stay out till eleven thirty, do I make myself clear young lady?"

"Yes dad, very clear," Sia said with a happy tone in her voice.

We then heard her open the gate and walk out to the streets, that's where she met up with Dave again. Then they walked off for another late night date.

"I don't think Dave and Sia will need to worry about Eustoma disapproving their relationship anymore," I whsipered to Kaede.

"Yeah," she smiled, "I know this might sound weird, but their relationship reminds me a bit of that story 'Romeo & Juliet'."

"I don't think it's weird at all - truth be told, I was going to say the same thing."

Kaede smiled as she looked over to me, she then let out a huge yawn. We both got up at the same time, then I swept her off her feet as I held her in my arms, then I carried her off back to our bedroom.

Once we were in our room, and after locking the doors, we both got undressed and climbed into bed, Kaede was once again laying on top of me.

"Good night Matthew, I love you."

"Good night Kaede, I love you too."

We kissed on the lips for a minute and a half, then we closed our eyes and went happily to sleep.


	15. Could Have Fooled Me

My writing spree continues with this fifteenth episode. Once again the attention goes back to Itsuki and Mayumi as they get ready for their upcoming wedding, but trouble is just around the corner and may very well tear this lovely couple apart, just a note that one of the characters I introduced the one time in the 'My Kinda Life' stories returns in this episode, see if you can guess who it is. Anyways, this chapter's date is June 9th 2011 and the rating is M for swearing included and maybe a cute moment or two, anyhow - here's episode 15, oh and the title was inspired by the song by 'Adam Gregory'.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 15: Could Have Fooled Me**_

That Thursday afternoon, Kaede and I went out with Itsuki and Mayumi, reason was because Mayumi wanted to try on wedding dresses and Itsuki wanted to find a really nice tuxedo.

At around five, Mayumi found a dress that she really liked.

"Hey Itsuki, what do you think of this one?" she asked.

"I think it looks great," he said kindly, "I think it'll look really great on you my love," he then gave her a kiss on the left side of her face. Mayumi blushed happily at that moment and so did Itsuki.

"I'm sorry Miss," said another voice, it was one of the store employees, "but that dress isn't suited for girls like you."

"What?" Mayumi looked upset.

It was Itsuki who spoke up, "what the hell did you mean when you said that dress isn't suited for a girl like her huh? Are you insulting my wife to be?"

"I'm just saying that this dress wouldn't look good on a flat chested girl like her."

"Oh really? Let me ask you, how many sells have you made since you started work here?" the woman was quiet, "I thought so, you're the type of person who likes to make people feel bad about themselves, well that's not going to work this time. My Mayumi wants that dress and that's what she is going to get, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," groaned the woman, "Sorry sir."

She then walked away, feeling rather embarrassed about what just happened. Some people in the store cheered for Itsuki, while Mayumi ran up to her husband to be and gave him a hug.

"Thank you so much Itsuki," she smiled happily.

"You're welcome Mayumi," he said happily.

After the hug, Mayumi walked off to try on the wedding dress.

"Way to go buddy," I smiled to him, "you really have come a long way from the guy who used to tease Mayumi about being flat chested."

"Yeah I don't know what I was thinking back then," he sighed unhappily, "I was such a baka to Mayumi, I should've been backing her up and yet I made her feel terrible."

"Well that was then - this is now my friend. You've really become a loving boyfriend to Mayumi, and soon you'll be a husband."

"Yeah," he smiled happily.

A minute and a half later, Mayumi came out wearing that beautiful white dress she really wanted to wear, Itsuki was at a loss of words, but he was still smiling.

"How do I look Itsuki?" she asked nervously.

"You're...you...you are so beautiful Mayumi."

Mayumi's smile never faded, she walked up to Itsuki and gave him a hug. Kaede and I could only smile as they hugged.

The next afternoon, Itsuki was waiting at 'Flora', he was to meet up with Mayumi there. Sadly she was running a little late, he didn't mind waiting, "it'll be worth it just to see her," he thought happily to himself.

Another person walked into the cafe, she didn't look friendly. She had long brown hair, wore a short skirt, a pink T-Shirt and long black socks. This person looked over to Itsuki with a smirk across her face.

She walked over to where he was, "hello there handsome, do you mind if I sit here with you?"

"Actually yes I do mind," Itsuki answered, "I'm waiting for my bride to be, I'm sorry."

"I promise you I won't take too much of your time."

"No thanks," he then looked down to his watch, "I gotta go."

Itsuki got up from his seat, he decided he was going to wait for Mayumi outside the resturant. Just as he reached the door, he felt someone grab his right arm, pulling him back. It was that girl again, he was spun around and - she planted a kiss on his lips.

"Stop it!" Itsuki shouted.

"Do I have to?" the girl said as though she was whining, "I was just starting to enjoy it."

"Well I did not!" Itsuki snapped and walked out of the resturant. The moment he stepped outside, he heard someone crying. He looked to his right side and saw who was crying, it was Mayumi, tears were just pouring down her face.

"Mayumi, what's wrong?" Itsuki asked as he over towards her. He was about to wrap his arms around her, but she punched him in the gut.

"What's wrong? What's wrong you ask?" she sounded really angry, but was also sad, "I thought you loved me."

"And I do love you..."

"Don't lie to me," Mayumi snapped angerily, "did you think it was funny to fool around with my feelings? I trusted you, I kissed you, I hugged you - yet you go and do this to me, I should never have trusted you in the first place."

"Mayumi..."

"Just shut up," she snapped, she then pulled the ring off her finger and threw it at Itsuki, "I don't ever want to see you again! I will never be your wife, you bastard!" She finally broke down, but she never let Itsuki see that - mostly cause she was now running away.

Itsuki was shocked by what just happened, he picked up the ring, then he walked away. He was hardly past Flora when _he_ broke down in tears, "why? Why Mayumi? Why would you want to break up with me?" he sobbed out loud.

The mysterious brown haired girl had seen everything, she didn't look upset - in fact, it was the complete opposite, she was smirking.

At around six that evening, Kaede and I were cooking up dinner, it was just the two of us for now as Naomi, Primula and Daisy were out tonight. Primula and Daisy were out on dates and Naomi was hanging out with Shiori and Lance.

We were just about done when we heard the doorbell ring, "I'll get it honey," I said.

"Okay," she said while blushing, she loves it everytime I call her that.

I walked over to the doorway and slid the door to the side - Itsuki was on the other side of the doorway, he looked upset and looked pale.

"Hey Itsuki, what's wrong?"

He was quiet for a while, even when Kaede came over to the doorway. After a minute, he finally spoke up, "Mayumi broke up with me."

"What?" Kaede and I asked in unison.

"Why did she break up with you?" Kaede asked, "you two were a wonderful couple."

"Yeah," I agreed, "everything was going so well for you two, you were even going to get married. What happened buddy?"

"Gosh I wish I knew," he sighed as he walked in, "I was just waiting for Mayumi to come over to Flora, she was running a little late - I walked outside and I found her in tears, then that's when she broke with me."

"Did she say why she was breaking up with you?" Kaede asked.

"She asked me if I thought it was funny fooling around with her feelings. I was going to tell her 'no', I love her - but before I could say anything, she took off her ring, threw at me and said she never wants to be my wife."

Itsuki pulled out Mayumi's engagment ring, he sighed unhappily and shedded a few tears from his eyes.

"I don't know what I did wrong," he said after a minute, "unless..."

"Unless what?" I asked.

"Unless she saw that girl in the resturant kiss me."

"What?" I shouted this time, "well, now we know why she dumped you..."

"Before you start blaming me for this again, I'll tell you what happened - I was waiting for Mayumi when a brown haired girl came in, she started talking to me, I could tell she was flirting with me - I told you 'no' and headed off for the door," Itsuki sighed and then continued, "she grabbed my right arm, spun me around and then forced me to kiss her. I pushed the girl back and walked to find Mayumi...and that's it."

We were quiet again for a while, that was until Kaede spoke up, "maybe you should try telling that to Mayumi."

"I doubt she'll believe me."

"I'm sure she will, just talk to her, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'll do that," he then looked over to me, "that's normally what you say Matthew."

I didn't reply back that moment, "Itsuki, you said before that the girl that gave you that 'sneaky' kiss had brown hair right?" I asked, Itsuki nodded his head, "tell me though, did she wear a short skirt, pink T-Shirt, long black socks and blue eyeshadow?" He nodded his head again, "just as I thought, I know the girl who kissed you, it was my former second girlfriend, Samantha."

"She's always trying to steal a boy from another girl," said Kaede, "it's who she is. She even tried that with Matthew the last time she was here."

"Too true," I agreed, "Itsuki, go find Mayumi and tell her what happened okay, you need to tell her the truth of what happened. Kaede and I will deal with Samantha."

It took a while, but at long last, Itsuki found Mayumi, she was down at the dockyards and crying. She didn't look too happy when she saw Itsuki, "what are you doing here?" she sobbed.

"I need to talk to you Mayumi, it's about what you saw earlier."

"Oh so you do know what you did!"

"Yes I know, now I need to listen to me," Itsuki got down on his knees, (Mayumi was sitting on the dock), then he told Mayumi everything about what happened.

"That's all?" Mayumi asked after he was done.

"That's all, I never wanted to kiss any other girls, there's only one girl I want to kiss - you Mayumi. I was not fooling around with your feelings, I love you Mayumi and I want spend forever with you."

"How can I believe you?"

"It's the truth Mayumi my love, I would do anything for you," he then moved in to give her a kiss on the right side of her face, but he never kissed the right side of her face - instead, he kissed her on the lips. They kissed for a minute and a half.

"Itsuki..." Mayumi's eyes were watering with tears.

"I'm serious Mayumi, I want to be with you forever."

"Oh Itsuki," Mayumi couldn't take anymore, she burst out into tears, but this time she cried on Itsuki's right shoulder. She was also smiling, "I love you!"

"And I love you too Mayumi," Itsuki smiled.

Mayumi cried out her tears until there were no more to cry out, then she looked Itsuki in the eyes and kissed him on the lips again for a minute.

"Can I have my ring back please? I want to be your wife."

Itsuki pulled out the ring and placed it back on Mayumi's finger, the diamond sparkled once more in the sunlight.

"Itsuki, I'm sorry for what I said, I should've listened to you."

"It's okay Mayumi," he said calmly as he hugged her, "you don't need to say sorry, it should be _me_ saying sorry, I have been a complete baka in front of you all these years. I treated you like c...trash," he corrected himself as he thought it was completely rude to swear in front of his girlfriend, "when I should've backed you up..."

"It's okay Itsuki, that's all in the past. I would like to look ahead to the future and - maybe someday soon, we could have a baby, is that okay?"

"Of course it is," Itsuki said with a happy tone in his voice.

The two of them stayed at the dockyards for a long time, just looking out to the wide open ocean, both of them thinking about what their lives were going to be like living together. It was clear to see that they were happy together.

Sometime later that day, the brown haired girl was walking out of Flora, she was still smiling throughout that entire time, that was until she heard "hello Samantha."

She turned around and saw who the voice belonged to - it was yours truely and I wasn't alone, Kaede was standing to my right side.

"Well, well, well, if isn't my old boyfriend Matthew Gagnon, are you still seeing that orange haired girl or can I have you back?"

"For your information Samantha," I said firmly, "I happen to be married to Kaede," to prove it, Kaede and I showed our rings, "Now, we heard that you were flirting with a guy who is engaged, am I right?"

"Where did you hear that?" she asked looking a little worried.

"That guy and his wife to be are our friends," Kaede answered this time, also being firm with Samantha.

"Oh no - I'm in trouble now aren't I?"

"Darn right you're in trouble Samantha," I said firmly once again, "you nearly seperated a cute couple - although it wouldn't be the first time would it? I bet half the guys you asked out all had girlfriends and pushed you back when you tried giving them a sneaky kiss."

"So what are you going to do to me?"

"Allow me to do the honors today," said a voice from behind us. Kaede and I looked behind us to see Itsuki and Mayumi, both of them were smiling and wearing their engagment rings. The person who said that was Mayumi.

"Go right ahead," I said.

Mayumi walked past us and over to where Samantha was, then she slapped her on the left side of her face - hard! So hard that Samantha fell to the ground, while Mayumi shook her head and blowing on it, that must've hurt.

"That's for trying to steal my boyfriend," Mayumi snapped angerily, "I'm going to warn you, if you try to steal him again, you're going to get a worse punishment than what I just gave you."

"Bet that feels familar, doesn't it Samantha?" I asked.

She looked over to Itsuki, he looked just as mad as Mayumi was. Samantha was worried that she was going to get smacked again, so she ran off in a hurry, triping over her own feet just a distance away from the resturant, then she disappeared into the distance.

"She deserved it," said Itsuki.

Mayumi walked back over to where Itsuki was, she then placed her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around her.

"Itsuki, promise me that you will never leave me for some other girl," she said quietly.

"I promise," he said, "I even pinky swear on it, okay?"

"Okay," Itsuki's right pinky wrapped around Mayumi's right pinky, then they both said "pinky swear."

No sooner had they done that then we all saw tears in Itsuki's eyes, he was still smiling though and he still had his arms around Mayumi. He rubbed her back gently and even ran his fingers threw her hair, sounds familar doesn't it?

"Maybe we should go," I whispered to Kaede, "I'm sure those two will want to be alone for a while."

"Good idea," she whispered back.

So with our hands holding onto each other, we walked away and left this cute couple to be alone.

We soon returned back to our house, the Chevy Blazer was still sitting just before the gate, a sign hung on the concrete wall, which read 'Fuyou/Gagnon household', we had that sign put up shortly after we got married. We then walked up the pathway, then we walked into the house, taking off our shoes at the doorway.

"I think Itsuki is going make Mayumi one happy girl," said Kaede, she never once let go of my hand.

"Yeah you're right Kaede," I smiled, "I have a strong feeling that Mayumi and Itsuki will be together for a long, long time. It's like I've been saying, he has come a long way from the boy you once told me about on the chatroom."

There was silence in that hallway, then Kaede stood up on her toes and kissed me on the lips for a minute and a half. Naomi was watching us just down the hallway, she was going to yell 'Get a Room!', but before she got a single word out, someone placed their hand over her mouth and dragged her back to the living room.

"What's the big idea?" she cried with a muffled voice.

"I don't want you ruining that cute moment." Naomi looked up and noticed it was Daisy, she was the one who had her hand over Naomi's mouth, Monty and Lance were there too.

"Does she do this all the time?" Lance asked.

"Sometimes," Monty answered, "Daisy doesn't like it when Naomi sneaks up to Kaede and Matthew, so she tries to, as I'm going to kindly say it, 'shut her up'."

"You will not bug Matt and Kaede," Daisy said firmly, "if they want to kiss, then you should let them."

"I know that," Naomi said with a muffled voice. Daisy couldn't understand her, so she removed her hand from Naomi's mouth, "I know that Daisy, I just like joking around okay?"

"Fine," Daisy huffed angerily and let go.

Naomi ran over to the doorway, she was hoping to catch us off guard, but by the time she got over there, we weren't there. Kaede and I had walked upstairs, so she couldn't say it now.

"Dang it!" she snapped crossly.

Once we got up to our room, our phone rang. Kaede had picked it up, it was Mayumi on the other end.

"Itsuki and I were talking about when our wedding is going to be and...we've decided to get married on July 1st."

"Well that's great Mayumi," Kaede said happily, Mayumi then asked if Kaede would be her maid of honor at the wedding, "of course I'll do it."

"Great, thank you so much Kaede - well if you'll excuse me, I have to go, Itsuki is calling for me, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay, talk to you tomorrow Mayumi." Kaede hung up the phone, then she looked back over to me, "I think they're going to do it tonight," she said to me, she didn't need to say anything, I knew what she meant by that.

I went online to the Sodor Island Forums and told my friends about the day's events, like I always do.

"That girl never gives up does she?" said Anime Boy's message, "she sure got what was coming to her when Mayumi smacked her."

"I'm so happy for those two," said Metamorphical's message, "I wish we were there, cause I would like to tell Mayumi and Itsuki congratulations."

"Don't worry Niki," I replied back, "I'll tell them for you."

"Thank you Matthew," she replied back.

"Just one question though," came Jamesfan's message, "why is Samantha back in Tokyo anyways?"

"I really don't know, but I'm sure that whatever the reason, it's not good at all."

"You and Kaede better be careful then buddy," said Warrior's message, "if she tried once to get you away from Kaede, then she's bound to try it again - and this time, she might not take 'no' for an answer."

"You guys don't need to worry," I replied back, "I won't let Samantha get her way, I promise you that."

"Good."

After talking with my friends for seven minutes, Kaede and I layed down on the bed and watched some of our favourite shows on the anime channel.

After watching those shows, Kaede and I got up from the bed, then we both got undressed. We were going to sleep naked again tonight. I layed down first, then Kaede layed down on top of me.

"Hey Kaede, before we go to sleep, would you like to hear another song?"

"No," she answered, I gasped when she said that, "this time, I want to sing a song to you - would that be okay?"

My shocked look went away, I smiled and nodded my head, "of course it's okay Kaede, you can sing to me tonight."

I reached for my Ipod and gave it to Kaede, she searched threw the list until she found the song she was looking for, she gave me one end of the earphones while she put the other end of the headphones in her ear, she then pressed the play button and started singing the song, which was 'My Heart Will Go On' by 'Celine Dion', that song is Kaede's favourite tune.

_Every night in my dreams,_

_ I see you, I feel you_

_ That is how I know you go on_

_ Far across the distance,_

_ and spaces between us_

_ You have come to show you go on_

_ Near, Far, Wherever you are_

_ I believe that the Heart does go on_

_ Once more you open the door_

_ and you're here in my heart_

_ and my heart will go on and on_

_ Love can touch just one time_

_ and last for a lifetime_

_ and never let go until we're gone_

_ Love was when I loved you_

_ One true time, I hold to_

_ In my life we'll always go on_

_ Near, Far, Wherever you are_

_ I believe that the Heart does go on_

_ Once more you open the door_

_ and you're here in my heart_

_ and my heart will go on and on_

_ You're here_

_ There's nothing I fear_

_ And I know that my heart will go on_

_ We'll stay forever this way_

_ You are safe in my heart and_

_ My Heart Will Go on and on_

Kaede was breathing heavily after she was finished singing, "you were right Matthew," she panted, "singing does a lot of your breath away."

"True," I reached out for her right hand, then I brought it over and kissed it, "That was wonderful Kaede, you are a wonderful singer too."

Kaede was so happy to hear that that as soon as she got her breath back, she gave me a kiss on the lips for two minutes. "Thank you Matthew," she said happily, "I love you."

"And I love you too Kaede."

Once the lights were off, Kaede and I said our good nights, closed our eyes and went happily to sleep.

Still, I bet you're wondering about Mayumi and Itsuki huh? Well, I think they had an evening that they will never forget.


	16. I'm Yours Forever

As recalled back in the first chapter of 'Our Kinda Trip', there was one little moment where Matthew showed Kaede 'their' room after most of Kaede's things were moved into Matthew's bedroom. Now in this chapter, it's time I reveal the story of the first days of marriage for this cute loveable couple. The actual date of this chapter is June 11th 2011 with some 'flashback' moments too, this story is still rated M for a little swearing and cute moments too, there's going to be quite a few in here too. Oh and just to let you know, this chapter will feature the return of 'Koyuki Drake' and that little girl 'Katie' too.

Before we begin, I want to say that I owe a special thank you to Mike11208 for helping me correct the typos I made in this story. I also would like to say an extra special thank you to both Ria and Mike11208, who wrote the cute scene on the first night of the 'honeymoon' in the flashback story. And now, here's the edited version of chapter 16 of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 16: I'm Yours Forever**_

Throughout the morning of June 11th, Kaede and I did some housework with a little help from our sisters. All except for Naomi - I don't know how, but that little girl managed to get a cold last night and now she was sick. Primula and Daisy promised to help her get better while Kaede and I continued with the housework.

After lunch, Kaede and I decided to take a little break and relax in the living room. Like always, she was resting her head on my chest while I had my arms wrapped around her as we layed down on the couch.

I could see the ring I gave Kaede back in Strasburg as she had her left hand resting on my chest.

"Hey Matthew," Kaede whispered, I looked down to see her looking up to me, "thank you for helping me again today."

"You're welcome Kaede - honey," I said kindly as I rubbed the top of her head softly.

Kaede blushed happily when she heard that. We were quiet for a while, that was until Kaede broke the silence and brought up an interesting subject, "do you often think about when we got married?"

"Of course I do, it was a beautiful day."

"It sure was," Kaede was really blushing at this time, "so was the first night of our marriage."

"Yep," I smiled while blushing, remembering...

Shortly after the wedding party, Kaede and I went off to one of the fanciest hotels in the city for our honeymoon. We got the honeymoon suite, we soon found out why it was one of the best rooms in the entire hotel.

"It's so beautiful," Kaede gasped when we stepped in, "look at the bed Matthew, it looks like a heart."

Kaede was right, the bed was shaped in a heart. The room itself was quite big. There was a fireplace, a big cabinet, a fancy washroom...okay, everything in this room was fancy, there were even candles in there too.

Kaede was nervous as we stood in the doorway.

"Is something wrong Kaede?"

"No, nothing's wrong Matthew, it's just - I don't know what to say right now."

"How about 'we'll both do the best we can', how's that? Is that okay?" I asked, Kaede nodded her head happily. "Well Kaede Fu...ah Gagnon, I promise you that I will always be yours, forever and ever, I'm all yours."

Kaede continued to smile and blushed, then she looked up to me, "I know you'll keep your promise Matthew and I promise you that I will always be yours too, I'm all yours Matthew - my love," she said with her trademark giggle.

It was then that I saw a look in Kaede's eyes that I have never seen before, it didn't take me too long to figure out what she wanted.

"Kaede, do you want to..."

"Only if you want to," she said nervously.

"What about you though? Do you want to do it?"

Kaede looked down to the floor and back to me several times, her face was going red at this time, then (while she was looking down to the floor) very quietly she said "yes", she looked up to me with her beautiful smile, "I would love to do it with you. What about you?"

"I would love to do it with you too," I nodded my head.

She continued to look at me, still a bit nervous, but I saw her gorgeous lips curve up in a small smile. I smiled along with her and walked up to her, kissing her cheek and then pressing my lips against hers lightly at first, then to a point of passion. I entangled my fingers in her light orange hair as I met my lips with hers repeatedly, earning a few light whimpers here and there from her vocal chords.

I pulled away and pressed my forehead against hers, smiling at the look she still had in her eyes that seemed as if they were a never-ending ocean. All I wanted to do was get lost in them, and her.

I undressed her to her underwear, blushing as I saw a much more clear outline of her petite frame. Her breasts were housed in a white bra with a pair of panties to match. She blushed at me and started kissing my neck, tugging lightly at my clothes and pressing her delicious lips on my chin, neck, lips, and cheeks. She dragged her lips lightly along my jaw before discarding my shirt to the floor.

Again, we smiled at each other lightly and she took my pants off, blushing a bit more colorfully when she saw the outline of me in my boxers. Nevertheless, she came back up to face me and pecked parts on my body, including my shoulders, chest, stomach, arms, and hands. I chuckled at her and started kissing places of my own, starting with her neck, lightly nibbling on her skin. I didn't want to mark her but I just wanted a slight taste of my new wife. Wife. The title made me grin. Kaede is my wife. I smiled even harder.

As her bra falls to the ground, she turns a darker pink but continues rubbing me and kissing me. Thus, her panties fall to the ground and I kiss her forehead as I look down at her. Gorgeous.

I saw Kaede's face turn bright red as my boxers hit the floor, making a slight blush of my own appear. She withdrew the bright color for a much more lighter pink, still flushed, and danced our tongues together. I backed her up to the heart-shaped bed and laid her down on it, crawling on top of her and planting multiple kisses on her body. First, those sweet lips that speak the most beautiful voice ever heard, then, the middle of her breasts. After that, her naval. Finally, one on each of her hips.

I looked up at her and receive a look of absolute adoration on her part. I gave her the same look and I wrapped her soft legs around my waist.  
>"Ready, beautiful?" I ask her. She smiles up at me and nods.<p>

"Yes." she said. I hover over her and roll my hips against her slowly, not wanting to hurt her in any way. Her eyes widen and she makes a whimper, rubbing my shoulders for support. I lose a bit of my concentration as well.

"Everything okay?" I ask.

"Yes. Keep going, Matthew. I'm fine, love." she encourages, taking a deep breath. I roll my hips steadily against her, kissing her, my tongue gliding across hers and outlining her lips. She moans lightly and I continue my soft, steady pace against her. My whole body feels absolutely amazing, each follicle of hair standing up and every inch of skin on me is tingling with the sensation. The air around us smells like us if we were one person, which right now we were. I was becoming one with my wife, and it was amazing.

The feeling intensifies, for us both I assume because Kaede is becoming a bit louder with her voice, and I look above her head to find her hands stretched out on both sides of the bed. Not losing the steady rhythm, I reach out and interlock my right hand with her left hand and my left with her right. My lips found hers again immediately, making our tongues make love just like we were. I moan into her mouth as I feel my stomach burn with a release dying to be met to terms. She moans loudly into my mouth, releasing herself. I still roll my hips, becoming much shakier than I was once I started. I let out a groan and I released, rolling over to her side. My lungs felt constricted and my heart was pounding against my ribs. It felt great.

I looked down at her and kissed her hand, moving her head to my chest. I interlocked our hands once again and smiled into the darkness, falling into a blissful sleep.

The next morning, I woke up to see the girl I love so much resting her head on my chest. She was awake right now, she was blushing a small shade of red at this time, her hair was a bit of a mess and her clothes, along with mine, were laying all over on the floor.

"Good morning Matthew," she said sweetly.

"Good morning Kaede," I said in a kind way, "did you sleep well last night?"

"I did, especially since I was with you," she looked down. I looked too and noticed that her left hand was holding onto my right hand, I rubbed a small patch of skin gently with my right thumb.

"Well I'm glad that you had a good time."

"I'm _still_ having a good time with you."

Just hearing her say that made me blush into a deeper shade of red.

After a few minutes, Kaede wrapped a blanket around herself and walked off to the washroom, cause she wanted to take a bath. I could hear the water go into the tub.

A few seconds later, I heard Kaede scream, "What's wrong Kaede?" I called.

"The water's cold!" she cried. I got up from the bed after getting some pants on, Kaede had a towel wrapped her and was shivering, "I turned both taps, but the water is freezing," she shivered.

I placed my right hand in the water, she was right, it was cold. I fiddled around with the taps a few times until some hot water finally started coming out of the taps.

"There we go, it just takes a while longer for the hot water to come out," I said. I looked back over to Kaede, she was still shivering. I walked over towards her and gave her a warm hug, she stopped shivering after a few seconds.

"Thank you Matthew," she said happily.

After thirty seconds of hugging, Kaede got into the bathtub, "is it better?" I asked, she nodded happily as we stared each other in the eyes for a bit, "well if you need me, I'll be relaxing on our bed okay?"

Just as I was getting up, I heard Kaede ask me, "don't you want to take a bath with me?"

I looked back over to her with a shocked look, "did I just hear that right? You want me to take a bath with you?"

"Yes," she answered while blushing, "but if you don't want to..."

"Kaede, I would love to take a bath with you."

That cute wonderful smile of her's showed up once more and if you wondering...yes she was still blushing. After taking my pants off, I climbed into the bathtub and sat down right behind her.

"Hey Kaede, would you like me to wash your hair?" I asked.

"Yes please," she answered happily.

So I washed her hair soft and smoothily, I asked her if any of the soap got into her eyes, "it hasn't gotten into my eyes," she answered me,and so I continued scrubbing the soap into her hair. When I was done there, I washed the soap out of her hair very carefully, luckily no soap got into her eyes. After that, Kaede started washing my hair, she washed it soft and smoothly just like I did with her's, then once she was done there, we started washing ourselves.

After our bath, we got changed into some new clothes, then we walked over to the hotel's resturant to get something to eat. As we ate, we often shared pieces of food with each other.

When we were done eating breakfast, we went out on a small tour of the city. We had a wonderful time out.

That evening, Kaede and I were sitting on the bed side by side with the lights out and the moon shining threw the window, and with our clothes laying on the floor again. Kaede looked over to me, "you look like you got a lot on your mind Matthew," she said, "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah I'm okay Kaede, I was just thinking back on some of the good times we have shared since we first met. Do you mind if I ask you a serious question?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, sometime after we became a couple, did you ever think we would get married?"

"I did, from the moment you told me that you love me, I knew we would get married someday. To tell you the truth Matthew, on the night of our first kiss, I dreamed about getting married to you - that probably sounds weird doesn't it?"

"No, it doesn't sound weird at all Kaede."

"Do you mean it?"

"Of course I mean it, I think that's a beautiful dream to have - of course now your dream _has_ come true." I said.

"Yeah," Kaede nodded her head happily in agreement.

I looked down and whispered to her: "Ah Kaede, would it okay if we told each other...secrets we have never told anyone else before?"

"Yes Matthew, it would be okay. We're married now, we don't need to hide anything from each other anymore."

"That's true," I looked up and showed Kaede my smile, "and don't worry Kaede, your secrets will be safe with me. I won't tell anyone."

"I know you won't," she said, "and you don't need to worry about your secrets, I won't tell anyone of your secrets."

"I know you won't," and so Kaede and I started telling each other secrets we never told anyone before. After talking for a while, Kaede and I made love once again.

When we returned home, we had a new sign placed on the concrete wall to the right side of the gate, it read 'Fuyou/Gagnon residants' in english and in japanese. Daisy, Naomi and I spent an entire day moving Kaede's things into my room - Kaede loved the way our room looked like.

That following evening, Kaede and I were in our bed laying face to face like always, but we weren't sleeping.

"You can't sleep can you?" I whispered to her.

"No, I can't," she whispered back to me.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong - I'm just thinking," she looked at me with a worried look on her face, "would it be okay if I was a housewife? I know this might sound silly, but I wouldn't feel comfortable working in a resturant or a store..."

"Mostly cause some guys will look at you with that preverted look on their faces, am I right?"

"Yes," she nodded her head, "I don't like that look."

"Well it's okay with me if you want to be a housewife Kaede. It's your choice after all."

"Thank you Matthew."

"You're welcome," I smiled. I felt Kaede's hand grabbing onto my hand, I could feel her thumb rubbing my hand softly. "Hey Kaede, would you like to sleep...on top of me for now on?"

Kaede looked at me a little surprised, but she did smile and say "sure."

So she moved over to where I was and rested her head on my chest, I ran my fingers threw her hair, it felt so soft and smooth. We said our good nights to each other, closed our eyes and went happily to sleep.

Kaede and I were still laying down on the living room couch and talking about all the good times we had, especially after we got married. While we were in the living room, Primula was in the kitchen making some soup while Daisy was searching for a bucket.

"Ah Kaede, Matt!" she called as she stood in the doorway, "I hope I'm not interupting you."

"You're not interupting us," Kaede and I called in unison. We stared at each other and chuckled for a second, "what's up Daisy?" I asked, "how's Little Sis doing?"

"Not good, I think she's going to throw up - do you guys know where the bucket is?"

"It's in the laundry room just above the dryer," Kaede answered.

"Thanks," said Daisy as she looked over to the stairwell, "you'll have to excuse me, I think Naomi_ is _going to throw up, Rimu is waving to me right now...Got to go!" And with that, she ran off for the stairwell to join Primula

A few seconds later, both Kaede and I heard my cellphone ring. Kaede reached for it (it's in a pocket on my left side), once she had it, she handed it to me, "thank you Kaede," I said happily.

The person on the other end was Damon, "hey buddy, what's up? Busy as always huh? Yeah I know that feeling. Ah, I'm not sure if we're doing anything tonight - excuse me for one second, I need to check with Kaede."

I looked back down to Kaede, "are we busy tonight?"

"Nope, we're free tonight," she said with that cute smile on her face.

I picked up my phone and spoke to Damon again, "Kaede and I are free tonight...yeah sure, we'll meet you there...no our little sisters won't be joining us...Little Sis is sick, Daisy and Primula have promised to look after her. Alright, we'll meet you there later...okay bye Damon."

I closed up my phone and put it back in it's protective pocket, then I told Kaede that Damon had invited us out to dinner tonight, "where are we going tonight?" she asked.

"He wants to meet up with us at the Boston Pizza in the megamall," I answered, "he's not alone as Koyuki and Katie are going to be with him."

"Who?"

"Oh right, I don't think I've told you that yet, Damon and Koyuki adopted a little girl named Katie from the 'Lucky Child Orphanage'. I thought for sure I told you about Katie - I guess it was because I was so focused on reuniting Naomi with her brother Lance."

Daisy and Primula promised to look after Naomi while we were out tonight. As you can guess, Naomi wanted to come along with us, but she was in no condition to be go out tonight. Before we left though, Kaede made some chicken noodle soup for Naomi.

"Thanks Kaede," Naomi coughed, she sounded terrible at this time.

"You're welcome Naomi," Kaede said kindly.

"Now remember," I said to Daisy and Primula, "if you need us, call us, both Kaede and I have our cellphones with us."

"We'll remember," they said in unison.

We soon arrived at the megamall where we were greeted by Damon, who had arrived at the same time as us.

"Hi Matthew, Hi Kaede," called Koyuki as she stepped out of the car, "it's good to see you two again."

"And it's good to see you too," Kaede smiled. The side door on Damon's side of the car opened and who should step out but that young girl I met back at the orphanage, Katie.

"Hi there," she said sweetly, "my name is Katie, it's nice to meet you."

"And it's nice to meet you too," Kaede said kindly, "I'm Matthew's wife, Kaede Gagnon."

Katie, as I said before, is no more than five years old, she has short blonde hair that goes down to her shoulders. At this time, she had two very small pink tails on both sides of her head (quite like Primula and Naomi's hair styles), she also had a small white sweater on and a dark blue skirt, which is quite different from when I last saw her.

"You're not going to believe this," Damon whispered to me, "but Katie was left on the orphanage doorstep when she was only one years old."

"What?" I asked in shock while whispering.

"It's true and get this, she had a few bruises on her too - my guess is that her parents used to beat her up."

"Dammit," I snapped quietly, I didn't want Katie hear me swear, "first the Livingtons and now Katie's original parents..."

"I know, it's sickening just to hear this kind of stuff," Damon agreed with me, then he looked over to Katie, "come here Katie," he said in a calm voice. Katie heard and walked over to Damon. When she was close enough, Damon lifted her up and held her in his arms.

"Katie is such a sweet child," Koyuki spoke up, "she never complains, she always says 'Please' and 'Thank You' and does her best to help with some of the housework."

"That's right Mommy," Katie said in a cute way.

Koyuki smiled, "she also likes to call me 'mommy' and calls Damon 'Daddy'."

"That's so cute," Kaede said happily.

I was about to reply back, agreeing with her when we saw Katie kiss Damon and saying "I love you."

"And I love you too sweetie," Damon said happily as he gave his daughter a hug.

Following our little conversation, we walked into the mall and over to the Boston Pizza resturant inside. Kaede and I ordered the 'Smokey Mountain Spagetti and Meatballs' while Koyuki and Damon ordered a big Pepperoni Pizza, as for Katie, "I would like the small pepperoni pizza please," she said to our waitress.

"Sure thing," our waitress said happily, "I'll be back with your orders in a short while."

Our meals came to our table in about thirteen minutes. Katie was on her best behaviour, she behaved like an angel. Whenever she heard any crying from any of the other kids in the resturant, she would say, "they're bad."

I gasped when I heard that, "did she just say..."

"Yep, she did say that," smiled Damon as he looked over to his daughter, "she believes in good manners, she doesn't like it she hears kids complaining about not getting what they want or getting their way, so she says 'they're bad'."

"Hmm," I said quietly, "from what I do remember, I used to act like that when I was younger."

"Did you really?" Koyuki asked in surprise.

"Yep...at least I think I used to, I'm not really sure."

About fifteen to twenty minutes later, we were done eating, dinner was delicous. Kaede and I looked over to Katie, she was wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"Will that be everything?" our waitress asked.

"Yes it is," said Damon. "Hey Matthew, Kaede, we'll pay for your meal tonight okay?"

"Are you sure you don't want me to pay for our meals?" I asked.

"I'm quite sure Matthew, we're treating you two out tonight, so I'll pay for your meals," and that's just what he did to.

Once he had payed for our meals, the five of us walked along that one level of the megamall, that was until Katie let a huge yawn. Koyuki carried her this time as we walked out of the mall.

"Thank you for treating us out tonight," Kaede said kindly, "we had a great time."

"We're glad to hear that," Koyuki said happily, she looked over to Katie, "is she sleeping Damon?"

"Yeah she's sleeping," he answered, "our little girl's had a busy day today."

"Yeah she sure has."

Koyuki took Katie over to Damon's car and carefully placed her in the car seat, "We'll see you guys later," smiled Koyuki.

"We'll see you later," Kaede and I called together. We waved to them until they were out of sight, then we got into the truck and drove off for home.

When we got home, we found Daisy and Primula fast asleep in the living room. Daisy was sleeping on the couch, while Primula rested her head on a pillow while laying on the floor in front of the table.

"They must be tired," Kaede said quietly.

"Yeah," I nodded.

We walked up the stairs as quietly as we could, we didn't want to wake them up. After getting upstairs, Kaede looked into Naomi's room, she could see the little red haired girl fast asleep while the bucket (now empty for the time being) sat next to her bed.

"Poor girl, I wonder how she got sick in the first place."

"I don't know," Kaede said, she walked over to Naomi and placed her hand on her forehead, "well her fever is going down, that's a good thing."

"Is it really going down?" a young voice asked. Kaede looked down to see that Naomi was wide awake.

"Yes, it is going down," Kaede answered her question.

I walked into the room and sat down at the front of her bed, "so how are you feeling right now Little Sis?"

"I'm still feeling a little sick, but I'm much better than I...I..." she grabbed a cloth and sneezed into it, "I was this morning," she continued where she left off, "so how are Damon and Koyuki doing?"

"They're okay and so is their daughter."

"Daughter?"

"Katie, she is Damon and Koyuki's adopted child," and so I told Naomi about finding Katie that day when I was looking for where Lance might be living.

"I'm so happy for that little girl," Naomi said as she let out a big yawn, "she's in good hands with Damon and Koyuki..."

Naomi didn't say another word, mostly because our little redhead had fallen asleep.

Kaede and I tip-toed out of her room, then I shut the door quietly, once again making sure Naomi didn't wake up.

As soon as we got back into our room, we got changed into our pajamas (yes we still wear pajamas sometimes), we watched some more of our favourite shows like 'Pink Panther', which included one of those 'The Inspector' cartoons.

"I remember watching that show alot when I was younger," Kaede was saying to me, "I would get up every Saturday morning and watch the show. My mom told me that she used to watch that show when _she_ was a little girl," she looked up to me (we're laying side by side on the bed just in case you're wondering), "can you tell me of some of the shows you used to watch when you were younger?"

"Well, there was Thomas the Tank Engine for one, then there was the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I also watched Bugs Bunny cartoons almost every day of the week."

"I used to watch that show too, it was always a great show."

"Yeah it was," I smiled, "and pretty funny too."

After watching the Pink Panther show, we watched some of our favourite animes until around nine thirty. Kaede turned off the TV while I turned off the lights. I layed down right next to Kaede, then she moved over to where I was and layed down right on top of me.

"I love you Matthew," she said happily, she moved up a bit and kissed me on the lips for a minute and a half.

"I love you too Kaede, my queen."

Kaede blushed happily and gave me another kiss, this time on the right side of my face. After we said our good nights to each other, Kaede moved down till her head was resting on my chest, then we closed our eyes and went off to sleep. And would you believe that we dreamed about our honeymoon, well it's true - that's just what Kaede and I were dreaming about.


	17. Two Old Foes and One New Friend

While Patrick and Ryan are Matthew's friends once again, there's still Jeff and Connor, they're still aganist Matthew's relationship with Kaede. The reason I'm saying this is because in this chapter, those two remaining knuckleheads return to Tokyo. Also included in this chapter is the introduction of a new character named Cameron Turner, Cam as most people call him. To be honest here, I had a great deal of trouble coming up with ideas for this chapter, but thanks to Mr. Kokomo, I am now ready to present this newest installment of Our Kinda Life. And now my friends, here's chapter 17...enjoy! Oh and the rating is still M and the date of this chapter is June 12th 2011.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 17: Two Old Foes and One New Friend**_

While Patrick and Ryan apologized to me after their attack on Kaede, Jeff and Connor never came fourth and said sorry, so that means that they are still aganist Kaede and I being together. Secretly though, I was hoping to never see those fools again - sadly that was just wishful thinking...

Kaede and I were hoping for a bright sunny day, but all we got was rain. So during the morning, Kaede and I went off to the small mall for a bit.

"Is there anything in particular you were looking for, Kaede honey?" I asked her.

She blushed when she heard me say 'honey', "no," she answered, "I just want to walk around with you, is that okay Matthew dear?"

"Of course it is," I said while blushing.

As we walked around throughout the mall, Kaede and I held hands and not once did we ever let go. We went into a clothing store where Kaede got some new skirts and shirts while I got a new T-Shirt in dark red. Next we went to an entertainment store where we got a movie called 'Unstoppable' (it's a Train movie inspired by true events). Then we walked into a small dollar store for a bit before resting outside of the video game store.

"We sure got a lot of stuff today didn't we?" Kaede asked me.

"We sure did," I smiled, (yes we were still holding hands). I didn't even need to ask, I could tell that Kaede was having a good time with me.

A minute later, my cellphone rang, "Hello? Oh hi Michael. Ah no actually we're not doing anything, Kaede and I were just walking around the mall for a bit? Sure, hold on a second..."

I looked back over to Kaede, "Would you like to go over to Michael's place for a bit?"

"Of course I would," she smiled.

I spoke back to Michael, "sure buddy, we'll be there soon. Yeah, we'll talk to you in a bit buddy. Bye."

Kaede and I got up from the bench, then we headed off for the enterance way. The rain was really coming down hard now, "oh no," Kaede groaned, "I forgot my umbrella."

"It's okay Kaede," I said kindly. I took off my sweater and placed it over her head. "I don't want you to get sick my love."

"Thank you Matthew," she said while blushing.

We then ran to the truck, she got in quickly while I placed our things in the back. Then I ran back to the front of the truck and got into my seat, "phew!" I gasped, "it's really coming down hard out there."

"It is," Kaede said while agreeing with me.

She then handed me a small hankercheif to help dry myself off. Once I was dried off, we headed off for Michael's house.

The rain wasn't coming down as hard when we arrived, still - Kaede and I ran down the pathway to Michael's house. I pushed the doorbell button, but no sound came. So I knocked - Michael came to the door a few seconds later, "is something wrong with your doorbell Michael?" I asked.

"Yeah, the d...darn thing," he corrected himself, he also didn't like swearing in front of a girl, "is broken again."

"Again?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah, the third time this mouth too - I think it's about time to get a new one."

"Now why does that sound familar?" I thought to myself. I looked back to my Chezy Blazer, "oh yeah, that's why." I was of course remembering that little battle I had with Charlie Banks in that field not too long ago, it's thanks to him that my old pickup is in a junkyard right now, that and the fact that my truck was on it's last legs - sort to speak.

"Come inside you two, there's someone I want you to meet."

So we followed Michael inside. Sakura was in the living room, she was sitting in the chair, but she wasn't the only one in the room. "Kaede, Matthew, I would like to introduce you to my good friend, Cameron Turner."

"You call me Cam if you want to," he said kindly.

"It's nice to meet you Cam," Kaede said kindly.

"Michael and Sakura have told me a great deal about you two and your fights with those punks. Ah, what did you call them?"

"Knuckleheads," I answered, "that's what I called them."

"Hey Matthew," Sakura spoke up, "I've been meaning to ask you, when did you, Patrick and Ryan become good friends again? I thought you were never going to forgive them after they attacked Kaede."

"Punks!" Cam muttered darkly under his breath.

"Well I wasn't going to forgive them orginally, that was until that one night shortly after Kaede and I came back from our trip to the states..."

It had only been two nights since Kaede and I had returned back to our house, she proudly wore that beautiful diamond ring I gave her back in Strasburg, she was actually showing it off to Nerine and Daryl, who were visiting us that night.

I was just about to walk into the living room when I heard the doorbell ring, "I'll get it!" I called.

I slid the door to the side - then I gasped in horror, "what are two doing here?" I snarled angerily for at the front door were Patrick and Ryan, "I warned you two never to come back, I guess you fools don't know when to listen do you?"

Kaede was at the far end of the hallway, she gasped when she saw them.

"Kaede, stay back okay? I'll handle them!"

"Wait," Patrick spoke up, "we're not here to fight you..."

"We're here to apologize," said Ryan.

"Apologize?" I was surprised to hear them say that, but my shocked expression went away, it turned back into an angry stare, "I don't believe you, you're using trickery so that you'll gain my trust, then you'll attack Kaede again."

"Look Matthew, we're not here to hurt you or Kaede," that was the first time he said Kaede's name correctly, "we want to say sorry for the way we acted."

I only shook my head, "we know we did some pretty stupid things after we came here to Tokyo," said Ryan, "and we are sorry. We would like to make it up to you two."

"Really?" I checked to make sure they didn't have their hands behind their backs, cause if they did, then that would mean they were lying.

"Do you want me to blast them Matthew?" Nerine asked, "cause if you do, I suggest ducking."

"Not yet Nerine," I called over to her, then I focused my attention back to the two boys, "you're being serious aren't you?"

"We sure are," said Patrick.

By now, Kaede was standing right behind me, she was still nervous. Ryan spoke up next, "Ms. Kaede, we're sorry for the way we acted, if you want, we'll pay for the damage we caused that night..."

"You don't need to do that," she said, "I can tell you two mean every word you're saying."

"We sure do."

"So, will you forgive us for what we did?"

"In time maybe," I said, "tell you what, if you help us with our upcoming wedding, then we'll call it even. Is that okay or do you two have a problem with Kaede and I getting married?"

"It's okay with us Matthew," said Patrick, "we'll be glad to help out, we'll do anything to get your trust back and be your friends again."

"So what happened?" I asked, they looked at me confused, "I told you two and the other two knuckleheads that I love Kaede hundreds of times and yet you kept coming after us."

"Would you believe that what you've been telling us finally sank in?" Patrick asked, then he spoke seriously, "both Ryan and I thought about what we had been doing once we were back in Canada and we soon realised just how stupid we were."

"Stupid isn't the right word for it," I said quietly.

"Okay it was beyond stupid," Ryan spoke up, "we now see that, so that's why we're here..."

"To apologize to you and Kaede for all we have done," said Patrick.

"...they really helped out more than a little bit during our wedding," I was saying, "and not once did they ever try attacking Kaede or myself. They worked hard to earn our trust again, which they got - shortly after our wedding, Kaede and I told them that we accepted their apologies and we trusted them as friends again."

"Well at least they learned several lessons after your previous fights," said Sakura, "and now you guys are good friends once again."

"Did they stay in Tokyo after your wedding?" Cam asked.

"No, they went back to Stouffville," I answered, "they didn't move here until April of this year, am I right Kaede?"

"Yep, that's when they moved here."

"And what about the other two? What were their names?"

"Jeff and Connor," I answered, "we haven't heard from those two in ages and personally I hope we never do. They're probably still bad to the core just like they always have been."

"Doesn't matter though Matthew," said Michael, "if they come back here and try any of their stupid antics, then we'll kick their sorry butts like we always have done before."

Before any of us could say anything else, we heard some loud banging at the door - then a crashing sound like someone had forced it down. A few seconds later, two familar figures appeared in the living room.

"Ah no not again!" I groaned.

"How did they know where to find us?" Michael asked.

Both of us got up from our seats, standing firmly in front of the girls we love. The intruders were Jeff and Connor and let me tell you this, they had angry looks on their faces.

"What the hell are you assholes doing here?" I snapped angerily.

"There's only one reason why," Connor snickered, "We're here to seperate you from Kaedee..."

"KAEDE!" Michael and I shouted in unison, (they still don't know how to say Kaede's name properly.

"Whatever," Jeff snorted angerily, he then looked over to Sakura, "as long as we're here, we'll seperate Michael from that girl."

"Try it and we'll drop you right where you stand!" Michael said firmly.

"Is that so?" Jeff looked over to Connor, "care to show them what we brought with us?" Connor nodded his head while he smirked an evil smile. Jeff then pulled out a small knife while Connor pulled out a pistol.

"We like to see you two try," Connor snickered.

Michael and I couldn't do anything, not while our enemies had a knife and a gun, we couldn't do anything to stop them. Cam didn't look too worried, he got up from the couch and walked over to the knuckleheads, "don't move!" Connor shouted, "or I'll shoot you!"

"With what?" Cam asked.

"With this gun you fool! Now back off!"

But Cam didn't back off, in fact - he kept walking towards them, then he stopped with that gun now pointing at his face, "what are you waiting for?" Cam asked with determination. Connor didn't pull the trigger, a small smile appeared on Cam's face, "just as I thought."

He then spun round and did a karate kick that knocked Connor flat on his back. Cam grabbed the gun, "it's fake!" he shouted to us, then he looked over to Jeff.

"Don't try anything!" Jeff snarled.

Cam looked at the knife, then he did the same thing again, knocking the knife out of Jeff's hand and making him fall back to the wall, "also a fake! These guys are carrying fake weapons!"

"Fake weapons huh?" Michael and I looked back to the girls we love, "is it okay if we fight?"

"It's okay with us," Sakura and Kaede said in unison.

Michael and I looked back to the two knuckleheads, "you know what's coming next," I said to them.

They gulped in fear, "you're about to get your asses kicked by us again," said Michael. We charged at them, Michael took on Connor while I dealt with Jeff. Cam stood back, but stood ready in case the two knuckleheads got away from us and tried going after Kaede and Sakura.

"You fight well Matthew," Jeff said to me, "why don't you join us?"

"No thanks, I'm not like you, I'm good!" I then kicked him in the stomach hard, knocking him down to the ground.

"You guys have been taking karate lessons haven't you?" Michael asked Connor, he didn't answer. "It's only too bad you're using your skills for your own selfish needs."

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" snapped Connor and charged at Michael again. Michael kicked him hard in that one place where men don't want to be kicked, then he punched Connor, making him back in pain.

"Need a hand Matthew?" Michael called over to me.

"No thanks Michael, I got everything under control!"

To prove it, I threw a huge punch to Jeff, knocking him into the wall, slightly damaging it, "sorry about that!" I called to Michael, "I'll pay for the damages later."

"Oh you'll pay alright!" snapped Jeff, "but with your life!"

He charged at me again, but he never got me - mostly because Cam had kicked him in the stomach, making him groan in pain. Jeff fell to the floor in pain, but then he got back to his feet, "I will never surrender to you Gagnon! One day we'll beat you."

"No you won't. You will lose everytime because you only fight for your selfish needs while we fight for the ones we care about. To put it in simply terms for you guys - You Can't Win!"

Jeff groaned and tried charging at me again, but was smacked down by both Cam and myself.

"Nice hit," we said in unison.

Michael looked back over to Sakura, "you better call the police."

A little later, Jeff and Connor were being taken away in Damon's police car again, "why is it you guys always seem to end up in these crazy situations?" he asked me.

"I don't know Damon, I guess it's just our luck."

"Or maybe it's because we attract trouble like a magnet the size of an elephant," said Michael.

"Well don't worry, we'll make sure these two stay in jail this time." Damon then walked back over to the police car, but then he pulled out his tazer gun, another officer did the same. Jeff and Connor both got shocked, then they were taken away.

"You weren't kidding when you said they were rotten to the core," Cam called from the doorway.

"Yeah they are bad," I said as we came back into the house (it wasn't raining that hard at this time). I walked over to Kaede, "are you okay honey?"

"I'm okay Dear," she said to me.

I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close. Michael did the same as he hugged Sakura.

After the hugging, Michael and I thanked Cam for his help, "but how did you know Jeff and Connor's weapons were fakes?" I asked him.

"It's quite simple," he said as he picked up Jeff's fake knife, "real blades are made out of steel and will shine when lights or sunlight shines on it, this thing didn't cause it was plastic. As for the gun," he was picking up Connor's fake gun, "from where I was, I couldn't tell if that gun was real or not, but as I got closer I could see that it was a fake."

"How?" Michael asked.

"It's all in the minor details, the main example is the trigger here at the back. Think back to when Connor pulled this thing out, he never once pulled it down, right?" Michael and I nodded, "well that's one way, the second is this bullet cartage, it didn't look real at all and lastly," he tried pulling the trigger down, but it wouldn't move, "there's no space here at the back for the trigger to go down, I could see that just by looking at the reflection in the window, that's when I knew he was carrying a fake weapon."

"You sure do know alot about weapons don't you?" I asked.

"Well I know a fair bit about them."

After the 'fake' weapons were disposed of, we went back to talking with Cam. He told us that he was going to be moving to Tokyo to start a new business.

"What kind of business?" Kaede asked.

"I like to tell you, but for now that is a secret for now."

Kaede and I hung out with Michael, Sakura and Cam for another couple of hours, then after we said our good byes, we headed off back to the house.

A little later, Kaede and I told Naomi, Primula and Daisy about our encounter with the two knuckleheads and also telling them about Cam. "I knew they had returned," said Naomi, "I saw them with my sixth sense."

"At least it's two and not four like before," said Primula, she was opening up the cat food can for Bridget the cat.

"You might want to tell this to Ryan and Patrick, just to be on the safe side," said Daisy.

"There's no need to do that, Michael said he was going to tell them himself. I'm sure they're going to be shocked to find out that Jeff and Connor are back."

"You do know that you broke your promise again today right?" Naomi asked.

"I know I did," I walked over to where Kaede was, "is there anything you would like to me to do to make it up to you?"

"I do know a way," she walked over towards me, then she stood up on her toes, then she whispered what she wanted in my right ear.

"Why is she whispering?" Naomi asked. Neither Daisy or Primula said a word, they knew what Kaede was whispering to me, but felt it was best not to say anything, "will someone please say something?"

"It's none of your business," Daisy and Primula finally said in unison.

A little later that evening, I was talking with my friends on the Sodor Island Forums. I told them all about meeting Cam and about Jeff and Connor's return to the city of Tokyo.

"They're back?" Danparker's message showed how shocked he was.

"Yes they're back, but don't worry - they're in jail once again. Thanks to Michael, Cam and myself."

"Oh no, you guys fought them didn't you?" Anime Boy's message asked, I replied back saying 'yes'.

"I had to fight them otherwise they would try hurting Kaede again and I'm sure they would've hurt Sakura, hence why Michael was fighting too. You know us, we'll always protect the girls we love."

"Yes I do know you guys and I have to say good for you. Still though, you did break your promise to Kaede."

"I know, but don't worry - I'm going to make it up to her." I enclosed my sentence with a wink, Anime Boy and the rest of my friends knew just what I meant, I didn't need to say anything.

After logging off and shutting down my computer, I got changed out of my clothes, then I put on a housecoat. Kaede came in a minute later, she was also wearing a housecoat (have you guessed what we're going to do?)

She closed the door and locked it. I walked over towards her, placed both of my hands on her shoulders, then we started kissing on the lips for thirty seconds. When we seperated, a thin line of silvia could be seen just below the right side of Kaede's lips, she was still smiling though.

"Are you ready Kaede?" I asked.

"I'm ready," she answered, she turned off the lights, then we walked over to the bed.

The rain was coming down hard outside, plus there was also a thunderstorm. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed, I'm sure that it knocked out the power sometime ago.

"I love you Matthew," Kaede whispered to me, "you're my hero."

"I love you too Kaede," I whispered softly into her right ear, "you're my hero too."

"Oh Matthew." Kaede then placed her hands on both of my shoulders and held me close to her.


	18. Poison Ivy

Back when I did the My Kinda Life episodes 54-57, I had introduced Daisy, the young girl from the realm of the gods who had been adopted into seventeen different families before she was finally adopted by Matthew. The reason I'm saying this is because the next two chapters are going to be about Daisy and her past, which includes her life with her evil sister, who didn't have a name when I brought Daisy into the series. Rating is still M just to let you guys know and now here is the latest installment of Our Kinda Life.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 18: Poison Ivy**_

In the early morning hours of Monday June 13th 2011, Kaede and I woke up when we heard our alarm clock going off. I was the one who got it. She just smiled at me and I smiled back at her as I stared into those beautiful blue eyes of hers.

"Good morning Kaede," I said cheerfully.

"Good morning Matthew," she said back, also cheerfully.

"Did you have a good time last night?"

"I did," she nodded happily.

As you can guess, Kaede and I were completely undressed, the housecoats we were wearing last night were sitting on the floor, side by side. In fact, they looked like _they_ were holding hands too.

About thirty minutes later, we were downstairs and making breakfast. Naomi was the first to come into the room, she looked a little angry, "what's wrong Little Sis? Did you have trouble sleeping?"

"Of course I had trouble sleeping with that thunderstorm outside, didn't you guys hear it?"

"Of course we did," Kaede and I said in unison and with a happy tone in our voices.

Naomi looked confused, "you two were happy that we had a thunderstorm last night? You two are a strange couple you know that?"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," I said firmly, "so are Daisy and Primula up yet?"

"Big Sis is still sleeping I think, as for Daisy, I think she's up cause I saw her bed empty as I walked past her room."

"I'm right behind you," she said, making Naomi jump in fright. I just chuckled until I heard, "now you know how we all feel when you sneak up behind us, don't you Naomi?"

"I guess so..."

"Good, then don't do it again!"

"Whoa Daisy, there's no need to shout like that," I called over to her.

"I'm sorry," she sighed, "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"I don't any of us, except for Big Bro and Kaede, got any sleep last night," said Naomi, "especially with the heavy rain beating on our windows, then the loud crackles of thunder."

"It makes me wish we didn't have to go to school," groaned Daisy.

We were soon sitting down at the table and enjoying a wonderful breakfast, we also had the TV on at this time. "Looks like we're going to be getting nothing but beautiful weather today," I said, "now I wish I didn't have to work inside all day."

"It's been a while since you did a 'Tech Corner on Location' episode hasn't it?" Daisy asked.

"Yeah it has been a while."

"Well somebody cheered up in the few minutes," Naomi said, trying to be like Lisa and Asa.

Before Daisy could say anything, Primula spoke up, "there's been another prison break."

We all looked, half expecting to hear that the two knuckleheads had escaped from jail like they did before, but instead it was slowing a clip of a teenage girl with long hair.

"No," Daisy gasped, "no, it can't be. It can't be true! Not her, anybody but her!"

"What's wrong Daisy?" Kaede asked.

"She's out, she's escaped," Daisy was in complete shock, "my sister has escaped."

"Your sister?" Naomi asked, then she gasped, "not that the same being that killed your parents and has been trying to kill you."

"It's her alright. Oh no, oh no, oh no, not again!" Poor Daisy looked terrified. I got up from my chair and wrapped my arms around her as I held her close to me, "she's going to try seperating us again and then she's going to finish the job."

"No she's not," I said firmly, "I won't allow that b...ah, baka," I corrected myself, "to hurt you, I promise."

"It's not that simple, she's a monster, A MONSTER!" she screamed as she burst into tears, she looked beyond terrified.

"What does your sister have aganist you anyways?" Naomi asked.

"She's always hated me and my parents too, that's why she killed them."

"What is your sister's name anyways?" Primula asked, "I don't think you ever told us."

Daisy couldn't answer, she was already in tears and crying, so I answered Primula's question for Daisy, "her sister's name is Ivy, from what I do know about her, she likes to call herself 'Poison Ivy'."

"Isn't that the name of a Batman villian?" Naomi asked.

"It is," Daisy sobbed, "she just calls herself that because it makes her feel powerful..." and once again she burst into tears on my shirt again.

"Are you okay Daisy?" asked another voice, it was Monty as he stood near the kitchen door, along with his twin brother Max and standing behind him was Lance.

"Hope you guys don't mind if we let ourselves in," said Max.

"It's okay you three," Kaede said kindly.

"I'm not okay Monty," Daisy sobbed, "my evil sister is back!"

"Your sister is back?" Monty was in shock, "but I thought she was in jail."

"Just watch the TV," said Primula. The three boys looked, they could the jail-break video playing on the news, "she escaped last night," Primula added.

"I'm surprised she didn't get..." Max began, but went quiet when he saw me shake my head slowly while I had a stern look on my face.

"It's okay Daisy," Monty said kindly as he walked up to my baby sister, he then rubbed away the tears coming down from her left eye, "you don't need to worry, I'm sure the police will catch her before the end of the day."

"I'm sorry Monty, but I don't believe you, not after I saw those knuckleheads attack Kaede last year."

"Monty, I need to ask you to keep an eye on Daisy all day alright?"

"You got it Matthew, lucky for you she's in the same class with me," then he said to Daisy, "don't worry my love, I won't let your sister hurt you. I will fight her before I let that happen."

"Same here," I said in agreement.

"Thank you," she said while she still cried.

At the end of the day, I returned back to the house at the same time as our sisters and the three boys showed up. Daisy still looked terrified and looked pale.

"She burst into tears a few times today," Monty said to me, "she didn't smile once at all."

"Why should I smile when she's going to take me away from the people I love?" Daisy groaned quietly.

"She's not going to do that," Monty said firmly, but as kindly as he could, "not as long as I'm by your side Daisy. You don't have to worry..."

"You don't understand Monty, she's dangerous. She may be from the realm of the gods, but she has the same kinda powers that the beings from the realm of the demons have."

"Does that mean your parents were from both realms?" Naomi asked out loud.

"Little Sis!" Primula, Lance and I said firmly in unison.

"Sorry," she said quietly.

"Once we get inside, I'll tell you whatever you want to know..."

So once we were inside the house and were all gathered in the living room, Daisy started to tell us everything...

Her story begins in a small house in the realm of the gods. Daisy lived happily in that house with her mother, who was from the realm of the gods and her father, who was from the realm of the demons. They made Daisy very happy every single day and made her feel like a princess. To Daisy, her life was perfect - except for one detail.

Ivy, otherwise known as Poison Ivy, was never happy with her life, "I hate all this happy crap," she snarled angerily every night.

"And why's that Ivy?" her mother asked, "your father and I give you everything you want and we show you great respect every day."

"I just hate being loved, I rather be alone."

"You don't really mean that do you?" her father asked.

"You bet I do."

Ivy loved to be by herself and would often get pissed off when she had to do something with the family. As the years went by, her attitude got worse and soon grew to the point where she said, "one of these days, I will bring an end to this little family and start a new life where I can be alone!"

And sure enough, one night - she did. She attacked her parents several times with her powers, then she went after them with weapons.

Both Daisy's mother and father did the best they could to stop her, but they were losing. So their last efforts were made to save their second daughter, Daisy.

"Go now sweetheart, find a new place to live," said her mother.

"I'm not leaving you."

"You have to," her father said weakily, "we don't want to see your sister hurt you."

"But..."

"Don't worry Daisy," said her mother, "I'm sure you'll find a family that will love you just as much as we do."

Daisy didn't argue with them anymore, she agreed to leave. So with their last efforts, Daisy escaped the house - only to hear loud screams a minute later and then...silence!

"Mommy. Daddy," Daisy said quietly, she heard nothing. She burst into tears at that point, but was still able to continue running.

Meanwhile Ivy had stepped out of the house, filled with rage and covered in blood, "as long as she lives, I'm not free from this stupid happy family. When I find you Daisy, I will destory you!"

Daisy was able to find a new home and a family who took her in, but that didn't last as Ivy came around, threatening the family until they left Daisy.

"Why are you doing this?" Daisy asked one day.

"I just hate you," snarled Ivy, "now hold still and die!"

But Daisy wouldn't, she kept running from one place to another, hoping to get away from her horrible sister and start a new life, but it wouldn't last. Even the families on earth who adopted her were threatened by Ivy and they did the same thing...

"...then it stopped after Matt adopted me. After he told me my sister was in jail, I thought that all my troubles were over, but now I can see they are just beginning," she sighed unhappily as she finished telling her story.

"She's a sicko," said Naomi.

"She's like a female Charlie Banks," I said in agreement.

"Hold on a second," Lance spoke up, "why does your sister hate being loved?"

"I don't know why, she just does and has been trying to kill me for a long time," she got up from the couch at that moment with a serious look on her face, "I love you guys alot, but I don't want to risk your lives again. So that's why I'm asking you..." she was starting to cry again, "to please let me go and let my sister finish the job."

"NO!" shouted Monty, he ran up to Daisy and hugging her, "I will never let you go Daisy, my life would never be the same without you. None of our lives would be the same without you."

"Monty is right Daisy," I said as I got down to my knees, I rubbed her hair nice and smoothly, "we'll never let you go."

"That's a promise!" Naomi said out loud.

"But why? I'm just putting you guys in danger again," she sobbed.

"We care about you Daisy," Kaede said kindly as she got down on her knees, sitting to Daisy's right side, "we would never dream of just leaving you in your time of need."

"Besides," said Naomi, "we're always getting ourselves into dangerous situations and yet, we always make it out of the fight in one piece."

"Apart from a few bruises and scratches," this came from Primula.

"So as you can see here Daisy, this situation is no different from those situations. You will stay _here_ with us and we will protect you from your sister."

"Too true Little Sis," I said.

"We won't let you go Daisy," said Kaede.

"We promise," said Monty as he continued to hug Daisy.

Daisy then wrapped her arms around Monty, still crying, "thank you, all of you, you are the best family a young girl like me could ever ask for - I love you all!"

"And we love you too Daisy," said Monty and gave her a small kiss on the right side of her face. He then let go so that she could hug me, I rubbed her back gently while she cried out all of her tears.

"It's okay Daisy," I whispered to her, "I won't let your terrible sister get you, I will protect you."

"Thank you," she said quietly.

Later that night, we were all ready to go to bed. Monty was going to sleep over as Daisy didn't want to be alone in her room, not with Ivy on the loose.

"It's real sweet of you to do this for Daisy," I was saying to Monty while blowing up the air matress.

"Hey I'll do anything for Daisy," he said, "I love her alot you know."

"Yeah I know," I nodded happily, "I love Daisy too, she is my baby sister after all."

"Even though she is adopted, you care about her as though she was your _real_ sister."

"Yeah, she's like the sister I never had. Truth be told here Monty, but I do think of Daisy as my _real_ sister..." I then felt someone give me a big hug. Who should be hugging me but my sister Daisy.

"And I think of you as my _real_ big brother, I love you Matthew," she cried as she burst into tears.

"And I love you too Daisy," I said happily.

At last the air matress was all set up. Kaede brought in a couple of pillows for Monty and Naomi brought in an extra blanket, "is there anything else you would like Monty?" Kaede asked kindly.

"Nope, I'm good," he answered happily.

We then said our good nights to both Daisy and Monty, then we headed off back to our bedrooms. Once Kaede and I were back in our room, I phoned Damon at his office.

"We're still trying to track down Ivy, but she's hard to find," he said.

"Well hopefully you catch her before she tries to attack Daisy," I said to him.

"We'll try our best Matthew."

Sometime past Midnight, Daisy woke up in fear, she had never been so terrified. Then she looked to her left and saw Monty sleeping on the air matress, "Monty," she called him with a worried tone in her voice.

Before she could call him for a second time, he opened his eyes and looked up to Daisy, "what is it Daisy?"

"I'm scared," then she asked, "can we sleep together tonight?"

"Well that's what we're doing aren't we? We're sleeping in the same room after all."

"I mean sleeping in the same _bed_."

Monty looked over to Daisy a little shocked, but then smiled, "sure Daisy, if that's what you really want, we'll sleep together," so he got up and walked over to Daisy's bed. Then he layed down to her right side, "feeling better now?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better. Thank you Monty."

"You're welcome Daisy," as he was saying this, he was rubbing his fingers threw her hair. After a couple of minutes, Daisy and Monty had closed their eyes and went off to sleep.

The next morning, Kaede and I got up at around four thirty, then after getting changed, we headed off downstairs to get started on breakfast. Before that though, we checked on Daisy and Monty.

"Aww," said Kaede, "just look at them Matthew."

I looked and sure enough, I could see them sleeping happily together.

"Maybe it's best if we let them sleep for a bit," I whispered.

"I think so too," so Kaede closed the door quietly, then we headed off downstairs.

"Just seeing those two like that reminds me so much of us, I mean we used to sleep together alot when we started off as a couple right Kaede?"

"That's right Matthew, we used to sleep together almost every night and now we sleep together every night," she giggled, I had to chuckle too, "I think Daisy is very lucky to have a wonderful boyfriend like Monty."

"I was just going to say that myself," I said, "are you reading my mind again Kaede?"

"Nope," she giggled again.

Once in the kitchen, we got to work on making breakfast, "Kaede, you know there is a good chance that I might have to fight Ivy this time, assuming the police don't catch her before she finds Daisy."

"I know that," she said quietly, "it's okay with me Matthew, you'd doing this for your baby sister. I'm sure anybody would do the same thing."

"True," I said simply.

It wasn't long before breakfast was ready. Daisy and Monty were the first to come downstairs, they were holding hands, which made Kaede and I smile, "did you two have a good night sleep?" Kaede asked.

"We did," Daisy answered happily.

"Felt like I was sleeping on a cloud," Monty answered.

I chuckled quietly to myself, I remember saying that on my second day in this house. Naomi came in next, followed by Bridget the Cat, who meowed for her breakfast. Primula came in next, she was already dressed and ready for school.

"Breakfast smells good," said Monty.

"Oh that's right, you've never been over here for breakfast have you?" Daisy asked with a cheerful tone in her voice.

"No I haven't."

He took a bite of the food - I could tell that he liked it just by looking at the expression on his face, "this is really good Kaede," he said.

"Thank you Monty, but I wasn't the only one making breakfast - Matthew was helping me make it."

"Well it's delicous as always," Daisy said cheerfully. It was good to see that smile on her face once again and to see her so calm too.

After breakfast, Monty helped Daisy and I wash the dishes while we waited for Max and Lance to show up. When they did show up, they looked shocked.

"What's the matter guys?" I asked.

"You might want to come outside and look on the concrete wall," said Lance.

So we all stepped outside and saw a message in red saying 'Return Daisy to me or feel my wrath. I will be waiting on top of the hill. Signed Poison Ivy'.

"She knows I live her," Daisy groaned quietly.

"Is that blood?" Naomi asked.

"Nope," said Monty, "it's spray paint."

"The hill," I said quietly to myself, "I think I know where Ivy wants us to meet her," I looked back over to Daisy, "remember that place where I told you that I had adopted you?"

"Yes I do," she answered, "you can almost see all of the city from up there."

As soon as she said that, I went back inside the house - a minute later, I came back holding the king's sword, "I think it's time we gave Ms. Ivy an answer..."

"And that answer is no, we will not be returning Daisy to her," said Monty firmly.

"You guys are going to kick her ass aren't you?" Lance asked.

"Normally we wouldn't, but in this case - the answer is yes."

Kaede phoned the school and told them that Daisy and Monty were going to be a little late getting in. Then once the call was made, Monty, Daisy, Kaede and I got into the blazer, then we drove off to the hill.

"Oh, I want to see the fight," groaned Naomi.

"Forget it Naomi," Max said firmly, "it's better if you don't," then he whispered, "please be careful..."


	19. Face the Darkness

Well my friends, the moment has come - Poison Ivy's first ever appearance and the battle that awaits on top of the hill. Just note that the date of this chapter is Tuesday June 14th 2011, the rating is still M and this chapter is dedicated to all of my friends. And now, here's part 2 - the epic battle has just begun.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 19: Face the Darkness**_

"So this is the hill where you told Daisy that you adopted her," Monty was saying to me, "tell me, is the view breathtaking?"

"It sure is," I said. Both Kaede and Daisy remained quiet, poor Daisy looked terrified.

At last, we reached the top of the hill and there she was - Daisy's old sister, Ivy! She almost looked like Daisy, except that she had long hair, "so Daisy, we meet again," Ivy snarled, "odd seeing you with these two boys, I thought your family would've kicked you out."

"Fat chance Ivy!" I snapped, "I would never dream of leaving Daisy."

"Same here," added Monty, "I would never leave her, no matter what!"

Ivy only chuckled, "let's see if I guess, the brown haired boy with the sword is your brother and the blonde haired boy is your boyfriend," then she looked over to Kaede, "as for her...she must be the brown haired boy's wife."

"You guessed right Ivy! And for the record, the name is Matthew Gagnon! I am the one that saved Daisy and the one who adopted her to be my sister."

"My name is Monty, I love Daisy and I will do whatever it takes to protect her from a bitch like you!"

"Harsh words Monty," I whispered to him.

"Yeah well I'm a little pissed off with this baka, I'm eager to kick her sorry ass."

"Again harsh, but I know how you feel," I held out the king's sword, then I pulled it out of the case, "now prepare yourself Ivy! Cause Monty and I are going to kick your sorry ass - for my baby sister Daisy!"

"For my girlfriend! We won't stop until you surrender!"

Now normally, Monty and I would never fight a girl, but in the case of Ivy, this was a one time exception. It was then I heard a snigger from nearby, I knew who it was.

"So that's why you're here, isn't it Samantha?" I shouted.

Sure enough, she emerged from the woods with a smirk across her face, "That's right Matthew, I made a deal with Ivy that if I got her out of jail, she would deliver you to me."

"Which is why you will be spared," snarled Ivy, "as for the brat, not so much."

"Why you! I'll teach..."

"Monty stop! Don't charge in when you're not prepared, we don't know what Ivy can do."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Well - I should fight Ivy first as I have the king's sword, Samantha is not much of a challenge, so you can take her on. If I need your help, I'll call for you."

"Sounds dangerous, but I'm ready."

"Matthew, Monty, please don't do this," Daisy shouted, "I don't want to lose you two."

"You're not going to lose us Daisy," Monty said as he looked back over to Daisy, "we're not going to lose this fight."

"That's right," I said in agreement, "Ivy and Samantha are fighting for their own selfish goals while we are fighting for you."

"You are one lucky girl Daisy," Kaede said kindly.

Monty and I got into fighting stances, and so did Ivy and Samantha. There was a moment of silence, then - we charged! Monty charged at Samantha, dispite her being bigger than Monty, he wasn't willing to give up.

"Why is such a handsome young man like yourself fighting, you should give up and save yourself," Samantha said in that voice I really hate.

"Sorry Sammy!" Monty snapped angerily, "but I won't give up, I'm doing this for my Daisy!"

I charged in at Ivy, she produced an orb and fired it off at me. I dodged every single attack she unleashed after that attack, then I swung my blade at her - she blocked it with a couple of blades of her.

"Why are you protecting her?" Ivy snarled at me, "she doesn't deserve to be loved, she's worthless to anyone!"

"No she's not!" I snapped angerily at her, "Daisy is a sweet little girl, she deserves to be loved and she is...by everyone who knows her!" Our blades clashed aganist each other, "she happens to be the best little sister I've ever had, I will not allow you the chance to hurt her."

"Oh I don't want to hurt her - I want to _kill_ her!"

"You'll never lay a single finger on her!" I snapped angerily, "I will protect my baby sister from you!"

"She's my baby sister, you're just a stranger to her!"

"No, I'm her big brother! You are the stranger to her!" Our blades seperated, she swung her blade at me and left a scrath on my left arm. Kaede gasped, Daisy stared in horror, "okay, so you got one - let's see if I can even the odds."

Again, our blades clashed aganist each other until sparks started to fly from them.

As for Monty, for a little guy, he was sure was good at fighting - Samantha never once layed a single finger on him, but he got her good until he had her pinned down.

"How are doing back there Matthew?" he called to me.

"Why not ask me that when I'm winning?" I shouted.

My blade continued clashing aganist Ivy's, until she kicked me in the stomach, then she kicked me down, "it's too bad," she said as she felt the metal on her blade, "you had your chance to escape, but now - now I have to destory you, then it's Daisy's turn!"

She swung her blade down, only to be stopped by mine!

"Why don't you just be a good little boy and just give up!"

"Never!" I snapped. I then decided that if she was going to fight dirty, then so was I. I kicked her in the stomach, really hard, then once I got back to my feet, I punched her in the face.

I then heard her chuckle, "You dare hit a lady?"

"You are no lady, just like Samantha, you two are monsters!"

Ivy got in another kick to my stomach, this time I grabbed her foot and flipped her, she landed flat on the ground, face first. When she got back up, the clashing of metal blades continued.

Daisy groaned as she watched from the sidelines, "I can't take it anymore Kaede, I have to help them. I have to end this thing with Ivy," there was silence as the two girls watched me fight Ivy some more, "if Naomi and Lance can face off aganist her parents and win the fight and if Matt can face off aganist the knuckleheads and still win the fight..."

"Then go," Kaede said interupting Daisy before she could finish, "go help them, you can do it Daisy."

Daisy looked over to Kaede, she was being serious.

Meanwhile, I was beginning to struggle aganist Ivy, I was running out of energy, "it'll be over soon," Ivy snarled at me, "you shouldn't have challenged me, you should've left her like those other families did. Let's face it, nobody loves Daisy."

"I do!"

Daisy was walking up to the fight, she smiled when she heard that.

"What did you just say?" Ivy asked angerily.

"I do, I love Daisy - as I told you, she is the best sister I could ever ask for - I would never dream of giving her up."

"And I thank you for that Matt," I looked to my right and saw Daisy walk up, "help Monty keep Samantha down, I have some unfinished business with Ivy."

"No Daisy it's okay, I got this."

"Matt, you are the best brother I could ever ask for. You have taught me to be strong and to be brave too, you also taught me that I have to stand up for myself - and that's what I'm going to do today."

There was a moment of silence, that was until I spoke up, "in that case, kick Ivy's ass."

"You bet I will!"

"Samantha's getting away!" shouted Monty. I looked back and sure enough, Samantha was trying to escape.

"I got her!" cried Kaede, she stuck out her right leg, Samantha fell face first onto the ground, "I got her!" Kaede called again.

"Help Kaede and Monty, I got this."

"You got it Daisy, just be careful."

Daisy and Ivy stood there like the heroes and villains in those western pictures, "so it's come down to this huh Daisy?" Ivy snickered as she produced an orb, "you aganist me once more, I hope you said your final goodbyes."

"I'm not going anywhere Ivy, I will beat you once and for all!"

For thirty seconds, nothing happened, then - they fired several attacks at each other. Like Ivy, Daisy has the powers and magic of the two realms, so she was able to fight back.

"Do you think Daisy can win this fight?" Monty asked as we kept Samantha pinned down.

"She can win," Kaede and I said in unison.

Daisy _was_ indeed winning the fight, Ivy was nearly wore out after her fight with me, "let's settle this once and for all, first one to draw blood wins!"

She tossed Daisy one of her blades, then she went on the attack. Daisy was able to defend herself and even dodge Ivy's 'cheating' tactics.

"That's it, way to go," I said out loud, "you can do this Daisy."

"We believe in you," Kaede said out loud, "we all do!"

Daisy heard us, she smiled at that moment and fought back even harder. Oh boy was she ever a good fighter, she was able to dodge every attack Ivy threw at her, she even managed to destory her blades, then lastly, Daisy was able to knock her dark evil sister down to the ground with several kicks. Now Daisy had her blade pointing at Ivy.

"Go ahead, do it! You'll end up just like me."

Daisy looked down to Ivy angerily, then she tossed her blades away, "No! No I won't finish you off, I am _not_ like you at all Ivy, I am not a monster like you."

"You're going to regret your choice..."

"No I won't, I rather see you go back to jail. At least today I have avenaged my parents, you are finished Ivy!" She stared at her evil sister with a stern look, "I used to be afraid of you, but now I'm not," she looked back over to us, "thanks to the friends and family I have. You've lost Ivy, enough said."

Daisy got up and walked over towards us, Ivy was badly beaten so she wasn't going anywhere.

A few minutes later, the police came to take Ivy and Samantha away. Damon was going to say, 'why don't you leave these things to us?', but he didn't say it, somehow it didn't feel like the right moment to say it.

"Are you okay Matt?" Daisy asked.

"Yeah, it's just a minor scratch, all I need is a good bandage," I then looked over to Kaede, "I'm sorry for worrying you again..."

"There's no need to say sorry, when you do these kinda things for the people you love, you're doing a good thing and that makes me so proud to be your wife."

She stood up on her toes and kissed me on the lips. As for Daisy, she walked up the hill to where Monty was, "it's a beautiful view," she said as she stood along side him, "the last time I saw this view was when Matt told me that he adopted me."

Those two were quiet for quite a while, then Monty spoke up, "how are you feeling Daisy?"

"I'm okay, I finally feel relieved. I'm longer living in fear of Ivy, I finally feel - free!" She looked over to Monty and kissed him on the lips. He wrapped his arms around her as he accepted her kiss.

Kaede and I were standing at the bottom of the hill, we could see Daisy and Monty kissing.

As Daisy kissed Monty, she thought back on all the good times she's had ever since coming to Tokyo. Just remembering every great moment made Daisy so happy that she started to cry.

"What's wrong Daisy?" Monty asked kindly after they stopped kissing.

"Nothing's wrong Monty, I'm just so happy. I am a lucky girl to have such wonderful friends and a great family. I am enterily grateful to you, Matt and Kaede for all you have done," she was now crying, but still smiling, "I'm so happy to be here with you and my family."

"Well we're all happy to have you here," Monty said with a smile on his face, "isn't that right Matthew?"

Daisy turned around and saw Kaede and myself walking up to where she and Monty were, "That's right Monty," I nodded happily. Daisy was so happy to hear that, that she ran up to me and gave me a huge hug.

"Thank you - for saving me," she cried, tears poured down from her eyes, but she was still happy.

"You're welcome Daisy," I whispered to her.

We stayed on top of that hill until around ten thirty A.M. when we finally returned to the house.

Daisy and Monty went off to school while I stayed at home with Kaede today, just helping her with the housework, (and if you wondering, yes I did put a bandage on that cut).

When everyone came home that afternoon, all they could talk about was Daisy's battle with Ivy.

"Way to go Daisy," Naomi cheered, "You sure showed that baka a thing or two!"

"You have come a long way from the girl that first came into this house," said Primula, "you were shy and afraid of your big sister, now look at you, you conquered your fears and defeated your sister."

"Thank you, all of you, but I had plenty of help from Monty, my wonderful boyfriend," she looked over to Monty and blew him a kiss. The young boy blushed bright red, then she looked over to me, "and my wonderful big brother, Matt," she ran up to me and hugged me again, "it's thanks to you that I am here and it's thanks to you that I am who I am - thank you so much Matthew."

"You're welcome Daisy," I said happily.

"It's a beautiful moment," Lance smiled.

"It just warms my heart when I see those two hug," Naomi smiled, she wasn't joking around this time around, she was being serious. Mostly everyone in the room was thinking the same thing.

Of course I told my friends on the Sodor Island Forums about what happened and let me tell you this, they were shocked to find out about what happened.

"Daisy fought her sister today?" Anime Boy's message showed, "wasn't she scared?"

"Not this time, she had the courage and determination to face off aganist Ivy and she won!"

"It almost sounds like your fights with the knuckleheads or when Naomi faced off aganist her parents," said Warrior's message, "only this time, the fight was more dangerous."

"No kidding, Ivy got me good, she scrathed me."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, I only needed a small bandage, I'm sure the scratch will go away soon."

"That's good to know - now I hope you don't mind if I say this, try to be a little more careful next time okay?"

"You got it buddy."

"First Charlie Banks, then Samantha, then the two knuckleheads and now Poison Ivy," said Jamesfan's message, "you've got lots of enemies Matthew, thank goodness they're all in jail."

"And hopefully that's where they'll stay too," I replied back.

After talking with my friends online for a while, I logged off, shut down my computer, then Kaede and I climbed into bed, said our good nights to each other and went off to sleep.

The next afternoon, we all went out to the Boston Pizza resturant in the megamall, as we walked up to the resturant, we came face to face with someone from Daisy's past.

"Erica," Kaede gasped, "we haven't seen you in ages."

"I was just going to say the same thing to you," she said, then she looked over to Daisy, "I heard you beat your sister in a fight."

"I did, with lots of help from my big brother and my wonderful boyfriend," she smiled as she looked over to me, then to Monty.

"I'm happy for you Daisy, at least now you're living with a great family who really cares about you and is willing to help you no matter what. I just want you to know that."

"Thanks Erica, that means alot to me."

Erica just smiled, then she turned and walked away.

"Isn't it thanks to Erica that you guys found out about Daisy's past?" Lance asked.

"Yes, it is thanks to Erica we learned the truth to Daisy's past," Kaede answered.

"Well I don't know about you guys," Naomi said out loud, "but I'm getting hungry."

"You must also have the power to read minds too," Daisy chuckled, "cause you just read mine, I was just going to say that," as you can guess, we all laughed to that joke.

Once we were at a table, Daisy, Kaede and I ordered the spagetti and meatballs, while Naomi, Primula and Lance ordered for a large pizza. By the time we were done eating, we were full.

"I can't eat another bite," groaned Naomi.

"You sure said a mouth full," Lance chuckled quietly.

"Hey Matt," Daisy whispered to me, "do you remember what we do that day the five of us came to the megamall?" I nodded my head, "Well I was wondering, do you think we could take another picture of our family together again?"

"Can I join in too?" another voice asked, it was Monty.

"Well of course you can."

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"We're doing some shopping for our parents and our baby sister Kelsey," said Max, "speaking of which, she actually walked today, isn't that great news?"

"It is great news," Kaede and Primula answered in unison.

And so, the eight of us went down the arcade. Last time the five of us could barely fit in there, so I knew the eight of us wouldn't fit in together.

"Well how about Kaede, Matt, Monty and I take the first picture then you guys can have your picture taken," Daisy suggested. We all agreed to that idea.

Daisy and Monty stood side by side while Kaede and I stood behind them, also side by side.

"Hold on a second!" Lance called, "is it okay if Naomi joins in on the picture?"

"And Primula too," Max added, "they are your family after all."

Daisy happily agreed, so Primula and Naomi squeezed themselves into the photo booth. Naomi was to Monty's right while Primula was to Kaede's left. Once again, I placed our family names on the boarders 'The Fuyou/Gagnon Family'. Then we took the two pictures with our families, one said the 'Gagnon Family' and the second was the 'Fuyou family'.

A little later that night, our sisters were fast asleep. Kaede and I weren't though, we were just getting ready for bed. We checked on Daisy sometime ago, she was sleeping happily along with Monty (yes, he's sleeping over again and yes he is sleeping with her in her bed).

Tonight, Kaede and I weren't going to be wearing our pajamas. Yep, we are sleeping naked once again.

Kaede layed there on the bed first while I was just above her. She felt the small cut on my arm, "does it hurt?" she asked.

"Not as bad as yesterday," I answered.

We were silent for less than ten seconds, mostly because we were staring into each other's eyes.

"At least now Daisy doesn't have to worry about Ivy ever again," I said to Kaede.

"That's true," she smiled, then she asked, "Matthew, can you sing a song for me again tonight?"

"Of course I will," I reached over for my Ipod, then I gave one end of the earplugs to Kaede and the other one went into my ear. I searched threw the list and found the perfect song to sing to Kaede. It's called 'Every Day' by 'Rascal Flatts'.

_You Could've Bowed Out gracefully_

_ But you didn't_

_ You knew enough to know_

_ To leave well enough alone_

_ But you wouldn't_

_ I drive myself crazy_

_ Tryin' to stay out of my own way_

_ The messes that I make_

_ But my secrets are so safe_

_ The only one who gets me_

_ Yeah, you get me_

_ It's Amazing to me_

_ How Every day_

_ Every Day, Every Day_

_ You Save My Life_

_ I come around all broken down and_

_ Crowded out_

_ And you're comfort_

_ Sometimes the place I go_

_ Is so deep and dark and desperate_

_ I don't know, I don't know_

_ How Every day_

_ Every Day, Every Day_

_ You Save My Life_

_ Sometimes I swear, I don't know if_

_ I'm comin' or goin'_

_ But you always say something_

_ without even knowin'_

_ That I'm hangin' on to your words_

_ With all of my might and it's alright_

_ Yeah I'm alright for one more night_

_ Every Day_

_ Every Day, every day, every day_

_ Every day, every day_

_ You Save me, You save me - oh, oh, oh_

_ Every Day_

_ Every, Every, Every Day - _

_ Every Day You Save My Life_

When I had finished and once I caught my breath, I asked, "what did you think of that song Kaede?"

"It's so wonderful Matthew," she smiled, then she wrapped her arms around me and brought me closer to her. Our lips connected as we kissed with so much passion.

"I'm glad you like that song, that's the way I feel every day when I'm with you Kaede," I said, "after all, you were the one who saved me."

"Oh Matthew," she hugged me again, "you make me feel that way too and I'm sure Daisy feels the same way. You saved her and you saved me too. I love you so much Matthew."

"And I love you too Kaede," and I kissed the right side of her face, making her blush bright red.

We stayed like that for a few minutes, then we got up from our bed. I climbed back in, then Kaede layed down on top of me once again, we did another thirty second kiss, then we said our good nights and went happily to sleep.


	20. Michael and Sakura

Well my friends, I am proud to present an all new episode dedicated to my bro, Mike11208. This episode gives Michael and Sakura some more time in the spotlight, so most of this episode is in third person narration. This episode is rated M for swearing and 'cute' moments too.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 20: Michael & Sakura**_

On Thursday June 16th, Daisy and I went back to the realm of the gods. Reason being was because she wanted to visit her parent's graves.

"Hi mom, hey dad, it's your little baby girl here," she said as she got down on her knees. Then she placed some flowers in front of the tombstones, (those flowers were of course Daisies), "you'll be happy to know that Ivy is in jail and I live with a family that loves me...as much as you two did," Daisy burst into tears, "I miss you two so much."

"It's okay Daisy," I said as I got down to my knees and sat next to her, "it's okay."

"Thanks Matt. Mom, Dad, this is my big brother Matthew, he's the one who adopted me and saved me."

Daisy was trying hard to force back her tears, but it was no good - they poured out again. I wrapped my arms around her, then I started rubbing her back nice and gently, "it's okay Daisy, cry as much as you want okay?"

"Thank you Matthew," (very rarily does she ever say my entire first name), "I miss them so much!"

"I know, it's okay."

Daisy cried for a few minutes, then we stayed for a few more minutes in silence before we headed off back to earth.

We left at around five in the morning, so by the time we returned, it was close to Six fifteen. Kaede greeted us as we came in, "are you okay Daisy?" she asked kindly.

"Yeah I'm okay," she said with a small smile on her face. Then she headed off for her room.

"I know how Daisy feels..." Kaede began.

"So do I," said a voice from behind me, I jumped in surprise. I turned around and saw who the voice belonged to, it was Michael, "Sorry Matthew, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Nah that's okay," I gasped.

"Michael, what did you mean by you also know how Daisy feels?" Kaede asked.

"I know how Daisy feels because I lost my mother when I was three years old," he answered quietly.

"I'm sorry to hear that Michael."

"It's okay Kaede," he said, he looked like he was going to cry, but he didn't. Instead, he walked inside to talk to us, well mostly me, "I was just wondering, what time does Sakura get off work?"

"At around the same time as Al and myself," I answered, "At around three O'Clock."

"Why do you ask Michael?" Kaede asked.

"I was just wondering cause I would like to ask Sakura if she would like to go out with me tonight. I tried calling her cellphone, but she never answers."

"There's a good reason why," I said as I poured some coffee into a mug, "it's because her cellphone is busted, it's been broken for several days now."

"Don't you know where Sakura lives?" Kaede asked.

"Sadly not, everytime one of our dates comes to an end, we seperate at the cross-streets so I never see her go into her house. So that's why I came over to ask you when she gets off work."

"Well it's like I said, she gets off work at three - come to think of it, I think she might be working with me on the set today. Al is staying home for a while looking after Sana and Yoshida."

"Thanks bro, I'll see you later..."

"Don't you want to stay for breakfast?" Kaede called out to him.

"We got plenty of room at the table here," I added.

"Well - sure, I would love to have breakfast with you guys," he said with a smile.

As you can guess, Michael enjoyed eating the meal Kaede made this morning, and even said so. After breakfast, he helped clean up the dishes.

"We'll see you later!" our three sisters called as they walked off for school with the twins walking along side them.

"Have a good day at work Matthew," Kaede smiled.

"I will," I said, I leaned down and Kaede stood up on her toes as we kissed on the lips for thirty seconds.

I waved to Kaede as I stepped down the pathway, she waved back too until I was in my truck. Today, I wasn't going to work alone as Michael was riding in the passenger seat, I offered to drive him to the set so he could speak to Sakura.

"Thanks for this Matthew," he said to me, then he added, "this is a really nice truck."

"Thanks."

After a while, we soon arrived. I got to work in setting up the set while Michael spoke to Sakura, "are you going to be busy tonight?" he asked kindly.

"Not really, why?"

"Well I was just wondering if you would like to go out with me tonight."

"Of course I would love to go out with you Michael," she said happily, "we'll leave once the set has been cleared for the day."

"Hey Sakura!" I called out to her, "don't worry about clearing the set for the day okay? I'll do the work alright?"

"Are you sure Matthew?"

"Of course!"

"Well okay, thanks!" she called back. I smiled and nodded to her. Al has done this for me several times ever since our show started and I've done the same for him, it's because we wanted to be with our loved ones and I knew that was the same with Michael and Sakura, so that's why I offered to do the work alone.

So after the long day of work on the set, Sakura went to the back to get her things. Michael was talking to me, "thanks for this bro," he said to me, "I owe you big time."

"Nah you owe me nothing," I smiled.

"Okay, I'm ready!" Sakura called.

"Right then, let's go Sakura!"

Sakura grabbed hold of Michael's hand, then they headed off. I smiled as I went back to work, "where's Sakura going?" asked a voice from behind me, this time I didn't jump. It was Mr. Quinten who asked me that.

"She's got a date tonight," I answered, "why? Did you need to talk to her?"

"No not at all, I was just wondering where she was going that's all. I thought she would stick around to help you since Al is away for a while."

"I told her that she can go. I know she and Michael want to spend some time together, so I offered to do the work myself. I don't mind really."

"Well alright then, carry on then," with that said, Mr. Quinten walked off the set while I went back to work.

"So where would you like to go?" Michael asked.

"Anywhere you want to go to," Sakura answered, "it's up to you Michael," she then rubbed his hand softly with her thumb, making him blush into a deep shade of red.

Michael was at a loss of words for a few minutes, that was until..."how about the couples amuzement park? I hear they got some new rides there."

"Sounds good to me."

They ran all the way to the park, not once did they let go of their lover's hand. When they arrived, they were out of breath.

"Damn, I forgot how far this place was," Michael groaned.

"Oh well," Sakura panted quietly, "we're here and that's what counts right?"

"Yep," he smiled.

At first, they had a little trouble deciding on which ride to go on first. Michael wanted to go on a roller coaster while Sakura wanted to ride the spinning teacup ride, then they both said in unison "why don't we ride on the tunnel of love ride?"

They agreed and went to ride on that ride.

Once they were inside the tunnel, Sakura's lips met with Michael's lips as they kissed happily. Then they went on the spinning teacup ride and then the roller coaster.

They rode on a lot of ride before they got onto the big wheel.

"Hey Michael, are you happy?" Sakura asked, "are you happy having me as your girlfriend?"

"Yeah I'm happy," he smiled, "I've been happy ever since we became a couple. You really helped me to cheer up after Destiny dumped me and you're always there when I need to talk to someone, thank you so much Sakura."

"You're welcome Michael."

As she was saying this, she was placing her left hand on Michael's right hand, making them blush once again.

"I love you Sa..." Michael couldn't say another word, mostly because Sakura was kissing him again. He didn't need to say anything at all, she knew what he was going to say and this was her way of saying 'I love you too'.

After they left the park, they went out to a fancy resturant for dinner. Then after dinner, they went back to Michael's place. They crashed onto his couch and watched some TV, most of his channels were in English, but he had the japanese subtitles on so that Sakura could understand what was going on.

At around nine, Sakura let out a big yawn, "I'm so tired," she said quietly.

"Would you like to stay over again Sakura?" Michael suggested. The black haired girl looked over to him surprised.

"You mean it?"

"Of course, my home is your home Sakura."

"Thank you Michael, I would like to stay over, just let me call my mom...oh damn! I forgot my freaking phone is broken..." She then noticed that Michael was holding out his cellphone, "thank you."

She made a quick three minute phone call to her mom, asking her to bring her some extra clothes for work the next morning, "...anything's okay mom. Okay, oh and tell Rose I said good night and that I love her. Thanks, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Then she gave the phone back to Michael, "I can give you my bed Sakura, I can always sleep in the guest room tonight..."

"No," then she asked, "I want to sleep with you Michael."

Michael looked over to her completely surprised, then what Sakura said next really surprised him, "I want you Michael." His eyes opened wide in surprise, he never heard this coming from Sakura.

"I wonder if Matthew hears this from Kaede," he thought to himself nervously, "come to think of it, I wonder if Sia said this to Dave that night."

He cleared his throat, then he gave Sakura his answer, "if you want me Sakura - then have me. I'm yours."

Sakura was surprised at first, but then she smiled.

Once they had gotten to their feet, Michael picked up Sakura, like a bride, and carried her to the bedroom...

He kicked the door open, then he lowered Sakura safely to the bed. She started things off by taking off Michael's shirt, revealing his chest before her. Michael then unbuttoned Sakura's shirt, then he pulled it down, revealing a red bra. The undressing continued with socks coming off next, followed by Sakura's brown skirt and Michael's jeans.

Then the last of their clothes came off - they were in complete silence as Michael stood in front of Sakura.

"Ah..." Sakura said nervously, "you...you have...a...a...you look handsome Michael."

"Thanks...Sa...Sakura," he said, also nervously, "and I h...have to say that you are...are...so beautiful."

Now they were blushing into real deep shades of red. Again they stood in silence with only Michael's sterio playing nearby.

"It's up to you though," Michael said, "I don't want to force you to do something you don't want to do."

"I _want _you!" she said with determination.

Just by looking into her eyes, Michael could tell that Sakura was serious as he saw love in her eyes. He leaned forward and started kissing Sakura's lips while he buried _himself_ in between Sakura's legs.

"Michael...oh..oh! Don't stop!" she cried.

"I won't," he said.

And he didn't, Michael kept it up. Sakura screamed out loud, but she kept on begging Michael to keep going, "Oh yyeess!" Sakura cried after a while. Now both she and Michael were sweating buckets, but they didn't care one bit.

After a while, Michael was lying down next to Sakura, "Michael," she whispered to him, "that was amazing."

"You really liked it huh?" he asked.

"I sure did," she said with a smile on her face.

Michael smiled as he stared into the eyes of his lover, Sakura Yae. A real caring girl who loves everyone she knows, (which included himself), a hard working producer of 'Tech Corner' and the one girl he truely loved with his heart and soul.

"I love you Michael," Sakura said happily.

"And I love you too Sakura," he said happily.

Sakura moved over a bit until her head was now resting on Michael's chest, then she went to sleep. Michael looked over to his clock, it was now past Midnight. He ran his fingers threw Sakura's hair, then he closed his eyes and went off to sleep.

The sun shone brightly threw the window the next morning, Sakura groaned quietly as she woke up, "oh, what a night," she said quietly to herself, then she looked to see Michael sleeping, then she looked down. She screamed so loud that Michael woke up with an instant.

"What's wrong Sakura?"

"I...I'm...naked!" she cried, "And so are you!" Then she remembered, "we made love didn't we?"

"Yeah, we did."

"Oh yeah now I remember," she blushed with embarrassment, "I'm sorry for the scream Michael, I'm just not used to waking up with a boy lying next to me," she giggled quietly.

"It's okay Sakura, you don't need to say sorry."

They were silent for a while, then Sakura asked, "can I use your shower?"

"Sure Sakura."

"Thank you," she grabbed onto the blanket, wrapped it around herself and walked off to the washroom.

While Sakura was taking her shower, Michael got changed into a new set of clothes and sprayed himself with cologne, "there we go," he smiled as he brushed his black hair with the white lines in it.

He was just walking out of the bedroom when he heard someone knocking at the door.

"I really have to get that doorbell fixed," Michael thought to himself.

He walked over to the front door, it was Mrs. Yae, Sakura's mother waiting, "hi Michael, where's my daughter?"

"She's taking a shower right now," he answered.

"Okay, well I brought her an extra set of clothes as she requested last night," she handed Michael a bag with Sakura's clothes, "did she sleep well last night?"

"Yeah she slept well."

"Okay," Mrs. Yae was about to leave when she stopped, "hey Michael, thank you for letting my daughter stay here with you. I would've been worried sick if something happened to her on the way home. You are a wonderful boyfriend to her - you remind me of that Matthew guy."

"Well you're welcome," Michael smiled.

Mrs. Yae continued to smile, then she winked before she walked away.

"Was that my mom?" Sakura asked from one of the nearby rooms.

Michael walked back into the house and saw Sakura with a towel wrapped around her, "yeah that was your mom, she just came by to drop off your clothes. She actually said that I remind her of Matthew."

"Well you are a lot like him you know. I swear you two are like brothers."

"You're not the first person to say that to me - and I'm sure if you say that to Matthew, he'll tell you the same thing..."

"Yeah you're not the first person to tell me that," I was saying after Sakura told me about her discussion with Michael that morning. Michael was sitting in the audience today, he was going to watch the show. "So I assume you got a good night sleep right?"

"You can say that," she muttered.

"I beg your pardon? I didn't quite hear you."

"I said you bet I did," she said with a small smile on her face. I knew she wasn't telling me the entire truth, but this is one of those things that _isn't_ any of my business, so I didn't bother saying anything.

We stepped out onto the set on cue, "hello everyone and welcome to another episode of 'Tech Corner', I'm your host Matthew Gagnon. My assistant is still away, so we have the lovely Sakura Yae with us today." Everyone in the audience clapped loudly, Michael was clapping the loudest.

"Before we start today, I would like to point out that we have a special guest in the audience, it's Sakura's loving boyfriend, Michael Quinones!" All lights pointed over to him, "come on down here Michael!"

"Come on!" Sakura called.

Michael got up from his seat and walked down the stairwell to where Sakura and I were.

"Welcome Michael to the set of Tech Corner, tell me, how does it feel?"

"Well it feels great to be here," he said with a smile on his face, "especially since I get to be here with the girl I love..." everyone in the audience 'awwed' him, "and to hang out with my bro too."

"Just to let you all know, Michael and I have been friends for many years ever since we were kids."

"That's right Matthew," then he looked over to the audience again, "I didn't have any friends, that was until I met Matthew and his friends."

"Quite right," then a thought came into my head. "As you all know, we are talking about musical instruments this week and we're getting into electric instruments, like an electric guitar for example - hey Michael, you can play one of these right?"

"Yep, I sure can."

"In that case, you would kindly show us how to play an electric guitar?"

"Sure thing bro," then he looked over to Sakura, "is it okay if I sing? I play my best when I sing."

"Of course you can," I smiled as I handed him the guitar, "ladies and gentleman! Michael Quinones!"

The audience clapped, then they went silent as the lights in the studio went out. Then a few spot lights turned on and pointed at Michael, he started to play the guitar - I knew which song he was going to play, it was 'Hanging By a Moment' by 'Lifehouse'.

_Desperate for changing_

_ Starving for Truth_

_ I'm closer where I started_

_ I'm chasing after you_

_ I'm falling even more in love with you_

_ Letting go of all I've held on to_

_ I'm standing here until you make me move_

_ I'm hanging by a moment here with you_

_ Forgetting all I'm lacking_

_ Completely incomplete_

_ I'll take your invitation_

_ You take all of me now_

_ I'm falling even more in love with you_

_ Letting go of all I've held on to_

_ I'm standing here until you make me move_

_ I'm hanging by a moment here with you_

_ I'm living for the only thing I know_

_ I'm running and not quite sure where to go_

_ And I don't know what I'm tapping into_

_ Just hanging by a moment here with you_

_ There's nothing else to lose_

_ There's nothing else to find_

_ There's nothing in the world_

_ That can change my mind_

_ There is nothing else_

_ There is nothing else_

_ There is nothing else_

_ Desperate for changing_

_ Starving for truth_

_ I'm closer to where I started_

_ I'm chasing after you_

_ I'm falling even more in love with you_

_ Letting go of all I've held on to_

_ I'm standing here until you make me move_

_ I'm hanging by a moment here with you_

_ I'm living for the only thing I know_

_ I'm running and not quite sure where to go_

_ And I don't know what I'm diving into_

_ Just hanging by a moment here with you_

_ Just hanging by a moment_

_ Hanging by a Moment_

_ Hanging by a Moment_

_ Hanging by a moment here with you_

The audience cheered so loud that they nearly raised the roof, "way to go bro," I whispered softly, "way to go." Then I saw Sakura run up to Michael and kissed him on the lips.

"As I said, way to go bro."

Just as we were going into commercial break, my cellphone rang, "hello?"

"Hi Matthew," it was Kaede on the other end.

"Hey Kaede, did you see..."

"I saw it, please tell Michael that I was cheering for him _and_ Sakura too."

"I will."

Then Kaede added, "as I was listening to that song, I was thinking about you Matthew - I love you."

"And I love you too Kaede, I'll see you when I get home."

"Okay, I'll see you later dear."

Hearing her say that made me blush at that moment. I looked back over to where Michael and Sakura were, they were still kissing and holding each other in a loving embrace, I couldn't resist myself, "way to go you two, I'm so proud of you both."


	21. Be Careful Around Trains

Time for another flashback chapter, this one shows a small portion of Kaede and Matthew's trip to Pennsylvania. This chapter was deeply inspired by several videos I have seen that show railroad near misses, accidents and stunts that will leave you speechless. The date of this chapter is June 18th 2011 and now my friends, here's the 21st chapter of Our Kinda Life - enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 21: Be Careful Around Trains**_

That Saturday, our sisters were out and about. Daisy and Primula were on a double date with Max and Monty and as for Naomi, she was hanging out with Lance, Shiori and Yukie. Kaede and I spent the entire morning doing housework again, then we layed down on the couch again, simply relaxing and watching some of our favourite shows.

"So Kaede, what do you think of the new table?"

"It's wonderful Matthew," she smiled.

Sitting right where the old table used to be was a brand new table I made - with a small train set inside of it. I found the idea in an issue of 'Model Railroader' - after that, I made plans to make a small layout for the living room. I finished it a couple of nights ago, so that's when I revealed it to everyone.

Kaede and I looked down to the layout, no trains were running at this time.

"Hey Matthew, would it be okay if I put on one of the movies from our trip?"

"Of course it is Kaede," I smiled.

So Kaede got up and walked over to the movie collection and took out one of the movies of our trip. She placed the disc into the DVD player, then she walked back over to me and layed down right on top of me.

"You really had a good time didn't you?" I asked her.

"I did, I had a great time with you Matthew. We got to see lots of interesting places, meet lots of people and had some adventures too - it was a lot of fun."

"Except for a few times..." I muttered.

"What was that Matthew?"

"Well, I was just thinking back to the few incidents that happened near those railroad crossings, remember?"

"Yeah I remember, those were scary moments..."

On August 1st 2010, Kaede and I arrived in the state of Pennsylvania. Shortly after she was released from the hospital, we decided to travel to the state of Pennsylvania for a small vacation.

"How are you feeling Kaede?"

"I'm okay Matthew," she said happily as she rested her head on my shoulder.

"You're excited about this trip aren't you?"

"I am, especially since I get to spend some time with you," she said in a cute way.

It wasn't long though before we arrived at a railway crossing, the flashing lights were going off at this time. I slowed the truck to a stop, right behind two other vehicles.

"By my guess, we'll reach Strasburg before nightfall," I was saying.

"Okay," then Kaede looked up ahead to the first vehicle, "I think that guy is going to run in front of the train!"

"What?" I looked and sure enough, someone was going to run in front of the train. The person was driving onto the railway crossing - just as a Norfolk Southern freight train with SD40s on the point came into view. The van managed to escape with inches between the back end of the van and the front end of the diesel locomotive.

"That was close," Kaede gasped.

"You said it, that guy sure is lucky to get away." We waited a few minutes until the train had passed, then we headed off.

"I think someone caught that guy's act on tape," said Kaede as she looked up ahead. Sure enough, there was a man filming at the crossing.

"I guess that guy got a little more than what he wanted," I said.

A little later, we reached another level crossing. This one had the flashing lights and the barriers (the last crossing didn't have barriers) - I had my window open at this time as it was warm out, plus it helped me to hear trains coming.

"The lights are flashing," Kaede said to me, "but traffic isn't slowing down."

"They'll slow down once the barriers go down."

What happened next took Kaede and I by surprise - the tractor trailer that was waiting in front of us started driving over the railroad crossing, just as the barriers were going down.

"Ah Matthew, how long does it take for a train to stop?"

"About a mile at least," I answered as we heard a diesel horn in the distance.

"The truck stopped!" Kaede gasped in horror, "and the trailer is on the tracks!"

"Kaede, you might want to close your eyes, this is going to be ugly!" Kaede covered her eyes with her hands just as the train came into view, being pulled by two SD40-2 diesel locomotives! The leading diesel smashed right into the trailer, it left the rails for a second, then came back down on the tracks and rolled on, until the train stopped about a mile away from the crossing.

"Did it hit the trailer?" Kaede asked.

"Oh yeah, it hit the trailer alright - and it forced the truck to smash into the cars in front of it."

"Oh my," Kaede gasped.

The reason the truck had stopped was because of a traffic jam, hence why the trailer was stuck on the crossing.

We waited for an hour before the mess was cleared up. Just before we left, we found out that while eight cars involved in the accident, nobody had been seriously hurt.

Despite the little hold up, Kaede and I arrived at the Red Caboose Inn in Strasburg at around sunset, "okay, I'll go get our keys okay?"

"Okay Matthew, is it okay if I walk around here for a bit?"

"Sure Kaede," I smiled.

The moment we both stepped out of the truck, we felt a little stiff. Once the stiff feeling was gone, I went inside to get our keys while Kaede took a look around the area.

"It's so beautiful," she thought happily to herself. She could see farmers working in the nearby field and she could see one of the Strasburg railroad steam engines coming with a passenger train. Kaede wanted to wave to the passengers as the train passed, but that was until she saw something which her gasp.

"Don't do it!" she cried.

I was stepping out at that moment, I heard Kaede cry out - I soon found why, someone was going to dash in front of the train, but not with a car - it was a bicycle.

The man was lucky, he was able to get away with seconds to spare before the train came to the crossing. Despite witnessing that 'near miss', Kaede still waved to the passengers and they waved back to her.

She turned around and looked over to me, "did you see that?" she asked me nervously.

"Yeah I saw it alright and we're not alone, the hotel manager saw everything too. I'm sure he's going to phone the police and inform them of this incident."

We got back into the truck, then we drove off to our hotel room (and yes it a caboose!) "here we are Kaede, our room," I said.

"Wow!" Kaede gasped as she looked around.

"This is a first for both of us," I smiled, "I've never slept in a caboose before."

"I haven't either," Kaede smiled. I went back to the truck to get our suitcases. While I was doing that, Kaede took out the video camera and filmed the room.

She pointed the camera over to the doorway, just as I was coming in, "huh? Kaede, what are you doing with the camera?" I asked.

"I just wanted to try it out, is that okay?"

"Of course it is," I smiled.

Kaede shut off the camera and placed it back in the bag, then she helped me bring our suitcases in. (Just to let you know, each of the cabooses have different railroad logos on them, ours was the Pennsylvania railroad caboose).

Later that night, Kaede and I were laying side by side in the bed, but I wasn't sleeping, "Kaede, are you awake?"

"Yeah, I'm awake," she answered me, "What's wrong Matthew?"

"Nothing's wrong Kaede, it's just that everytime I close my eyes I see those knuckleheads beating you up," I sighed unhappily, "I felt like I was living a nightmare that night."

"You must've been terrified," Kaede groaned quietly, "I'm sorry Matthew."

"There's no need for you to say sorry, it's not your fault, it's those knuckleheads. Although," I added with a chuckle, "I sure took care of those bakas pretty good that night. You know those little bumps in the wall? Well - that was my handy work."

"I heard you punched and kicked them hard that night. From what Daisy and Rimu said, it sounded like you were throwing cement blocks at them."

"Well they deserved that," then I looked down with a sad look on my face, "I was so worried about you Kaede, when that doctor told me you would never wake up, I had an emotional breakdown. I was upset because I would never be able to hug you ever again, or kiss your sweet lips, look into those beautiful blue eyes or talk to you again - I truely felt lonely that night."

"That was until I woke up right?"

"Yes, that's when all my worries went down the drain," I smiled, Kaede smiled back. Then I added, "I love you Kaede."

"And I love you too Matthew," she moved forward a bit, then she kissed me on the lips for a minute. During that kiss, a small tear poured down from my right eye, "What's wrong Matthew?" Kaede asked me.

"Nothing's wrong Kaede, these are just happy tears again." I didn't need to say anymore, Kaede knew what that meant. She continued to smile at me as she wiped my tears away.

"Matthew, can I ask you for a small request?"

"Sure Kaede."

"Can we hold hands?" she asked nervously.

"Of course we can," she reached out her right hand and I grabbed it with my left hand. We then said our good nights to each other, then we went off to sleep.

A few days later, Kaede and I were walking along threw the town of Strasburg (I had already gone into the town once already, guess why), "oh no," Kaede groaned, "That beautiful diamond ring I saw in the shop window is gone. I guess someone bought it."

"And I know who bought it," I thought happily to myself, then I spoke to her, "hey Kaede, do you want to go for a ride on the steam powered passenger train?"

"Yes, I would," she smiled.

Like I said before, the engine on our train was Strasburg 10 wheeler #90 (an engine from the Northern Pacific railway). It was during this trip that I asked Kaede to marry me and she of course said yes.

"It's so beautiful," Kaede said happily while tears poured down from her eyes, then she noticed, "there are little initials in the diamond. It says 'ILY'..."

"Short for I love you," I whispered to her.

"Oh Matthew," her lips met mine as we kissed for thirty seconds. We would've kissed for a whole minute, had it not been for the whistle blowing like a warning, "what's going on?"

I looked out the window and noticed a couple of cars dashing over the crossing just before engine #90 was to pass.

"That's just plain crazy," I said as I continued looking out the window, "darn idiots, it's dangerous and foolish to race in front of a train, especially a steam powered train."

I looked back to Kaede, she was still smiling as she looked at the diamond ring.

"Now, where were we?" I asked. Kaede didn't answer - instead, she kissed me on the lips for a grand total of two minutes.

After walking around the Strasburg Railroad for a bit and checking out the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania (which is across the street), we went back to our room to relax for a bit.

"You love that ring don't you Kaede?" I asked.

"I do," she smiled, "I love it because you gave it to me."

"Well I'm glad you like the ring Kaede. I knew from the moment I saw that ring that you would you love it, so I went in and got it. The man said this is the best kinda ring for proposals, lots of guys get diamond rings like this for the girl they love."

Kaede didn't say anything, instead - she kissed me on the lips again.

"Is it okay if I call everyone back home?" she asked me, I nodded my head. Kaede got up and picked up the phone, after thirty seconds, someone had picked up the phone, "hey Rimu, yeah it's me. Matthew and I are having a good time. Oh sure," she then looked back over to me, "she's putting us on speaker phone."

Then she spoke to our sisters again, "we're having a great time, although we have seen several close calls at railroad crossings."

"Bakas," I muttered quietly.

"Oh and guess what?" she said sounding excited, I knew what she was going to say, "earlier today while we were riding on the train - Matthew proposed to me!"

"HE PROPOSED TO YOU!" they all cried.

"I heard that," I said out loud.

"Yes, he proposed to me, he gave me a beautiful diamond ring with the initials 'ILY' on it. Short for I love you," she said, I knew it was Naomi who asked that question, "I'll show the ring once we come back to Tokyo. Well we won't be returning until September. Well we miss you guys too."

Kaede then handed the phone over to me, all three girls asked me if I really did proposed to Kaede.

"Whoa one at a time," I said, "yes I did propose to Kaede earlier today. Yes, we did we see several near misses and one accident at railroad crossings. Yes we'll be sure to bring back souvenirs," I chuckled, "okay then, we'll talk to you three later. Okay bye."

I then looked back over to Kaede, "they sure had a lot of questions," I chuckled, Kaede giggled happily, "so, are you ready to go out to dinner?"

"I am," she smiled.

We got up from the bed and walked over to the Red Caboose Inn's resturant, which is inside a passenger coach. From our table, we could see a little museum and gift shop just by looking threw the window, while to the other side of us, we could see the railroad and the nearby fields.

"Matthew, have you eaten in a passenger coach before?"

"Nope, this is another first really. To be honest here Kaede, I've always wanted to eat in the dining car of a passenger train - I guess this is as close we can get huh?"

"Yeah," she giggled happily.

I chuckled along to that, then I had to ask, "hey Kaede, are you having a good time so far?"

"I am, I'm learning alot about trains and I get to spend some time with my wonderful boyfriend - soon to be my husband," Kaede held out hand and I grabbed it with my hand.

"Are you two ready to order?" our waitress asked.

"We are," I answered, "We will have glasses of water to drink and we'll both have the spagetti and meatballs please."

"Very well then," that's when our waitress noticed, "is that a diamond ring?"

Kaede nodded her head, "it is, my sweet wonderful boyfriend gave me this ring on board the train today."

"Oh that's so sweet. Congratulations you two - I'll be back with your orders in a short while."

Our witress was about to walk away when she saw a car dash for the crossing, that was followed by loud blows of the whistle, "not again," she groaned, "what is that now? The third time in the last two days that someone's dashed across the crossing?"

"Yep, third time already," said one of the other costumers called out.

Our waitress sighed, then she went off with our orders.

After dinner, Kaede and I went down to the museum/gift shop to check the place out. Kaede was looking at the small layout while I was looking at the train books, one was all about accidents and near misses that had occured on railroads in the past and nowadays.

"You know Kaede," I said to her, "there is a national toy train museum just down the street, would you like to go there next?"

"I would love to," she smiled.

We got the book of railroad accidents and incidents and one train DVD, payed for them, then we headed off to the National toy train museum.

"Wow!" Kaede gasped when we stepped into the main room, "there are a lot of toy trains here."

"There sure are," I smiled as I held onto Kaede's left hand.

We walked around looking at all the model trains, from the newest ones, then to the oldest toy trains from Lionel. There was even an area that showed Thomas the Tank Engine model toy trains (like all the other toy trains, these ranged from the oldest ones to the newest trains).

Kaede took a lot of pictures (without the flash on) while I filmed alot of the layouts.

"I think Little Sis is going to be surprised by all these toy trains," I said to Kaede, she just giggled.

"I have never seen such an amazing collection like this before," she said, "thanks for bringing me here Matthew."

"You're welcome Kaede."

After filming and taking pictures, we looked around at some of the layouts for a bit and then to the model trains that were sitting on shelves behind protective casings. Once we our tour was done, we headed off back to the hotel to relex for a bit.

"I sure learned alot about toy trains and real trains during our trip to Pennsylvania," Kaede said to me after a while, "and now I know why so many people love trains."

I nodded my head happily, then I added, "and you also learned of what can happen if people take shortcuts around railroad crossings."

"Yes I did learn that too - it was so scary seeing those near misses."

"If only those drivers knew how they make the engineers, or drivers as some people call them, feel when they take chances at level crossings. Maybe they'll think twice before trying that stunt again."

"That is - if they're lucky to have a next time," Kaede added.

"That's true - so Kaede, what would you like to do next?"

"Well," Kaede looked outside, once again - it was raining, "maybe we could watch that 'Unstoppable' movie we got. Would that be okay?"

"Of course it is."

So once again, Kaede got up and placed in the DVD disc of the movie 'Unstoppable', "hey Kaede, are you sure I'm not boring you with my interest of trains?"

"You're not boring me Matthew, I think trains are interesting and I love learning about them from you," she said it with a smile on her face, "besides," she added as she layed down on top of me again, "I'm never bored when I'm with you Matthew."

"Well I'm never bored when I'm with you Kaede," I said with a smile on my face.

Kaede moved up a bit, then we kissed on the lips for a minute and a half, then we watched the movie. It was definetly a thrilling and exciting movie (if you guys haven't seen Unstoppable, you should check it out).

After the movie was done, Kaede and I went back to doing some chores around the house for a bit until our sisters came home.

"I wish you had waited for us to come home before putting that movie on," Naomi said angerily.

"Sorry Little Sis, but Kaede and I _really_ wanted to see that movie," I said, "you can watch it now if you want to."

"And what about you and Kaede?"

"We got to get started on making dinner," Kaede answered as she grabbed hold of my hand, then we walked into the kitchen together, while Naomi and Lance walked into the living room to watch the movie.


	22. The Twin's Love Stories

Well it's Primula and Max's turn in the spotlight, along with Daisy and Monty once again. This chapter tells the whole story of how the twins got their girlfriends, in other words - this is another flashback episode. This episode is based on the actual story I wrote up for the crossover story 'A Powerful Friendship', only with a few changes made. Anyhow, rating is same as always, enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 22: The Twin's Love Stories**_

It was raining once again that Sunday June 19th, so most of us stayed in all day.

"Rain, rain go away," Naomi was saying as she looked out the sliding glass door window, "come again some other day."

"She's bored," Daisy said out loud. She then felt someone tap her on the right shoulder, she looked behind and gasped, "Monty!" she cried. She got up from the couch and ran up to him, "you are Monty right?"

"Yes Daisy it's me," he chuckled, "the best way to tell me apart from my brother is by our shirts. He's always T-Shirts while I wear sweaters all the time - well except when it's really warm out."

Daisy just smiled at her boyfriend, then she gave him a kiss on the lips. At around the time Kaede and I were walking into the living room. Naomi was about to shout out to them, but she didn't because I covered her mouth, "don't even think about it!" I said firmly to her.

Kaede was just giggled, while Naomi grunted.

"Monty," Kaede called out, Monty looked back over to Kaede, "where's your brother?"

"Well if I have to take a wild guess, he's probably at that new anime store with Primula."

"Anime store?"

"Yeah - you mean you guys haven't gone there yet?" we shook our heads, "well let me tell you that there's a lot at that store, from anime DVD movies, to action figures from all the anime shows - it sells quite a lot in there - oh and guess who's working there now?"

"Who?" Naomi asked with a muffled voice, she looked up, "can you please get your hands off my mouth?"

"Sorry," I said, letting go.

"As I was going to say," Monty continued, "one of the people that are working there is none other than Nerine!"

"Nerine works there?" Kaede asked in complete surprise.

"Yep and she's not alone? Emily and Mayumi are working there too."

It was then we heard another set of footsteps coming over to the living room, it was Primula and Max, "hey guys what's up?" Max called out, "you won't believe what they have at that anime store, that's a great store!"

"Yeah we heard from your brother - seriously, you two could've told us about that store," I said with a chuckle.

Kaede giggled once again, "did you have a good time today?"

"We did," Primula said happily, "Max has been such a little gentleman, he held the door open for me, he gave me his jacket when the heavy rains started coming down and he even got me something from one of the higher selves."

(In case you don't know, Max is almost up to my height while Primula is almost at his height now).

"And here I thought he would never be a gentleman," Naomi giggled, "same with his brother."

"Shut up Naomi!" Primula and Daisy shouted in unison, "don't mouth our boyfriends!"

"Sorry!"

"We don't like hearing those damn insults," Daisy said angerily.

"It's okay Daisy," Monty said kindly, "Max and I are used to that. Lots of people always said that we weren't the most well behaved boys, but we sure prove them wrong."

"Hell yeah," Max said in agreement.

"And you guys curse a lot too," I added.

"Well we try not to do that when we're in front of our girls," both Primula and Daisy blushed when they heard that.

"Hey Max," Kaede spoke up, "When did you and Rimu become a couple? I don't think you ever told us."

Max looked over to Primula, "I guess we both forgot to mention it to Kaede and Matthew huh?" he asked. Primula nodded her head, "well I'll be glad to tell you if you want to hear about it."

"Of course we want to hear about it," I smiled.

"Well let's see, I believe it was just one week away after you and Kaede went off to the states, it was a rainy day..."

Both Primula and Max ran as fast as they could as the rain poured down hard on them. At last they ran underneath a store canopy to help keep themselves dry, "fine time for me to leave my umbrella at home, I'm sorry Primula."

"There's no need to be sorry Max, you didn't know it was going to rain," she then giggled.

"What's so funny Primula?"

"Oh I was just thinking back to when I first came here. I was walking home after talking with Rin and Kaede when it started to rain, I was soaked from head to toe. Rin came by to make sure I got home safely - he was in for a shock."

"Why?"

"Well, I wasn't wearing a bra and my shirt was wet."

"Was it a white shirt?"

"Yep, it was one of Kaede's old shirts. My shirt was completely soaked, I was embarrassed, but the look on Rin's face was priceless."

"Oh man I wish I could've seen that," Max chuckled, "ah, Rin's expression I mean."

"I know what you meant Max," Primula said with a chuckle.

The rain continued to pour down hard, so Primula and Max stood underneath that canopy for a long time in complete silence until Max asked, "so how long did Matthew and Kaede say they were going to be away?"

"For about a month I think."

"Okay," they went silent again, that was until Max asked, "hey Primula, do you remember what you told Monty and I back in January about how you're not ready to fall in love yet?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I was just wondering, if you were ready to fall in love, who would you choose?" there was silence for thirty seconds, "if you don't want to answer that question, then you don't have to. It was pretty stupid of me to ask anyways."

"It's not stupid to ask that type of question," Primula said quietly, then she went silent. After a minute or so, Primula spoke up again, "I would choose you Max."

"Me, you would choose me?" Primula didn't answer - well, not with words anyways. She answered Max's question with a kiss on the lips. Max was completely shocked, his eyes were wide open - that shocked feeling went away a few seconds later. He closed his eyes, wrapped his arms around Primula and holding her close to him. Their cheeks were blushing bright red at that moment, it was just a wonderful moment for those two.

However, it wasn't a good moment for someone else who was watching them - it was Monty.

"She said she wasn't ready to fall in love yet and yet," he said sounding completely upset, "I'll teach that son of a bitch a lesson!"

"Oh boy, I don't like where this is going," I said, I looked over to Monty, "did you actually said that?"

"Yeah I did," he answered.

"You didn't try hurting Max at that time did you?" Kaede asked.

"No, not at that time," he then looked back to his brother, "why don't you continue with the story?"

"And they act friendly to..." Naomi's mouth was covered by me again, she looked up and noticed I was shaking my head, "fine, I won't say a word," she groaned, I let her go.

"Very well," said Max, "as I was saying, Primula and I kissed..."

After two and a half minutes, Primula's lips seperated from Max's lips, they were panting as they tried catching their breath. There was silence between the two again until Primula said, "I love you Max."

"You love me?" he asked, "you actually love me?"

"I do."

Max was surprised, he had been worried that Primula would've chosen Monty - but when he heard Primula say those words...to him...it made all his worries go down the drain.

"Wh...what changed your mind Primula?"

"I'm ready Max, I'm just ready to fall in love - with you. So, will you be my boyfriend?"

Max was quiet for less than thirty seconds, he stared into the purple eyes of the girl he loved, then he gave her an answer, "Primula - I love you too and I would love to be your boyfriend."

Primula was so happy that once again, she kissed him for a minute this time.

"How cute," Kaede smiled, "Don't you think so Matthew?"

"Yeah I do think so," I said in agreement.

Max then looked back over to his brother, "it's your turn now, clear to tell the next part of the story?"

"With great pleasure," Monty smiled. "After I got home, I cried for a bit because of what I saw, but after that I was mad, so I waited by the doorway and..."

Monty stood in the doorway, he looked really pissed off and eager for one heck of a fight with his brother, "he'll pay for taking my girl," he thought angerily to himself.

It was around this time that Primula and Max were coming up to the house.

"I think this could the start of a wonderful relationship Primula," Max said with a smile on his face.

"I think so too," she said happily, then they kissed for a couple of seconds on the lips. Max kindly opened the door, allowing Primula to step in front, then he walked in.

"Oh hey Monty," Max said when he saw his brother, "are you feeling okay? You're looking a little pale."

Primula gasped, she had seen that look once before, "Max, I think we better leave."

"Why? I want to know if my brother is okay."

Monty then began to chuckle, which made Primula worry, "you're wondering if I'm okay. Well for your information Max, I'm not okay, but I will be..."

"Max, let's go - please?" Primula pleaded with worry.

"Ah sure, see you later Monty."

Just as they were going to walk out, Monty charged at Max, pushing out of the house and onto the wet grass outside, he then tried to punch Max in the face, but ended up hitting his fist on the sidewalk, "OW!" he cried.

"Monty what's gotten into you?" Max shouted.

"You stole my girl you bastard! Now I'll make you pay for what you did!"

"What?" Monty tried again and again to hit Max in the face, but ended up punching the sidewalk again. "Monty stop it, you're not going to accomplish anything by hurting me!"

"Oh but I will - with you out of the way, then Primula will be mine!"

"Get off of him!" Primula shouted, she shoved Monty away, then she helped Max back to his feet, then they ran off. They ran away as fast as they could until they reached the small mall, which isn't too far away from the twin's house.

"What the heck was that about?" Max asked, "my brother has never acted like that before."

"He's angry because we're together," Primula answered as they sat down on a bench, "I've seen that happen twice in the past. The first time was when Kaede attacked Asa..."

"Well why did she attack Asa?"

"She was mad that Asa was with Rin," she answered, then continued, "the second time was with Lisa, she attacked Kaede because she wanted Matthew and yet Kaede was in her way."

"Oh boy," Max sighed, "so you think Monty is feeling the same way as Kaede and Lisa did?"

"Afraid so."

The two of them were silent once again, they held hands but they didn't make eye contact, "you know I have to go back and see if my brother is okay, I think he might've broken his knuckles."

"Then let's go."

With that confirmed, they walked off back to the twin's house.

When they arrived, Monty was nowhere to be seen. They walked inside and looked around, they finally found Monty in his bedroom, wrapping his hands up in wrapping tape.

"So you've come to gloat about your victory huh?" he asked angerily.

"Monty..."

Max stopped talking when he saw a few tears come down from Monty's eyes, "you know how much I like Primula," Monty said as he fell off the bed and landed on his knees, "I was always hoping to fall in love with her. I guess though...that you are the better choice...Max, do me a small favour...don't ever hurt Primula, promise me that you'll always love her. Promise me!"

"I promise."

"You won, you got the girl..." Monty couldn't say anymore, cause he had burst into tears once more. He then felt someone hugging him, then he felt another person hugging him, it was Primula and Max.

"I'm sorry Monty," Primula said kindly to him, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but I love Max..."

"I know," the little blonde haired boy sobbed, "I get it now."

"Don't worry Monty, I'll always look out for Primula and I'll always love her," Max said quietly.

"You better," Monty was trying to make a joke, but it was no good as his tears poured down from his eyes.

"I'm sorry Monty, I'm sorry," Primula said as she burst into tears, and even Max had burst into tears. The three of them cried until they had no more tears to cry.

"...after crying for almost seven minutes," Monty continued, "we hung out until late at night when Max walked Primula back here."

We were all speechless after Monty told us that part of the story, "one week later," he went on, "something wonderful happened to me," he looked over to Daisy.

"Can you tell us how you two became a couple?" Kaede asked kindly.

"Of course I'll tell you," he grabbed Daisy's right hand and rubbed it softly with his thumb, "it was a nice sunny day, I was laying down on the bench..."

Monty was laying down on one of the many benches at the city park, he didn't feel like being at home. He sighed unhappily as he stared up to the clouds.

"Monty?" a young voice called from behind him.

He looked up to see Daisy looking down at him, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"I'm just being curious that's all. Rimu told me that she confessed her love to Max last week, how does that make you feel?"

"Well, I'm a little sad now that I can't fall in love with Primula," he answered as he got up till he was sitting upright, "but I'm not going to go around being miserable all the time Daisy, I'm going out every single day to live my life to the fullest."

"That's Matt's favourite saying," she giggled as she sat down next to Monty, then she asked, "Would you like to hang out with me for a bit?"

"Of course I would," Monty smiled.

"Great," then she asked another question, "is it okay if we hold hands?" Monty nodded his head and held out his left hand to Daisy. She grabbed it softly with her right hand, then they headed out.

They spent the morning at the arcade playing all sorts of games, then they went to see a movie, then they went out to lunch together.

"Don't worry about paying Daisy, I'll pay for your meal," Monty said kindly to her.

"You really do that for me?" she asked, Monty nodded his head, "thank you Monty."

They did a lot of stuff together and had a lot of fun. As they hung out, Daisy saw a bright smile on Monty's face, "he has such a wonderful smile," she thought to herself, then she thought, "I have to admit - he is kinda cute."

By the end of the day, the two teenagers were walking along towards Monty's neighbourhood.

"Hey Daisy, I want to say thank you for hanging out with me today."

"You're welcome Monty. Well I better be..." Daisy didn't finish, for it was at that moment that Monty had kissed her on the lips, Daisy was in complete shock, her eyes were wide open with surprise.

A minute later, Monty opened his eyes and gasped. He backed off as they seperated, "oh my gosh, what...I'm sorry Daisy."

Daisy was still silent.

"I don't know what came over me just then, I...I..." Monty was finding it hard to speak.

"It's okay Monty," she said kindly, "there's no need to say sorry," again there was silence, then Daisy asked, "do you like me Monty?"

"Ah...well...yeah I do. I mean, I've only known you for as long as you've been living with your big brother Matthew, but I do have feelings towards you Daisy - I guess you can call it love at first sight huh?"

"Yeah, love at first sight."

"So...do you want to be my girlfriend?"

"I don't know," she said mysteriously. Monty looked down sadly, then he felt something touch his lips again - Daisy was kissing him again, this time with her arms wrapped around him, her cheeks blushing bright red and her lips touching his.

Monty closed his eyes, then he wrapped his arms around Daisy, holding her close to him.

After a couple minutes of kissing, they seperated to catch their breath, "I know I'm not Rimu but..."

"It's okay Daisy, I'm not asking you to be like Primula - I want you to be ourself okay?" he asked, Daisy nodded her head, then she rested her head on Monty's chest while his arms held her close to him.

"I can only imagine what your brother is going to say when he finds out about our relationship."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about Monty..."

"...and that's the whole story," Monty concluded, "ever since that day, Daisy and I have been a couple."

"You guys were moving pretty fast don't you think?" Naomi asked curiously.

"I don't think they were," Kaede answered Naomi's question, "They had known each other for two months after all, so they weren't moving too fast."

"I just have one question for you Monty," I said, "why did you say you could only imagine what _I_ was going to say when I found out?"

"Well, I heard that some brothers are overly protective of their sisters and will often chase their sister's boyfriend out of the house and scare them out of the relationship."

"Monty," said Daisy, "I told you there's nothing to be worried about okay?"

"Daisy is right," I said in agreement, "I didn't chase you out of the house when you guys told me of your relationship, am I right?"

"Yeah," Monty answered.

"I approve of your relationship with Daisy, at least I know she's with someone as kind hearted as you Monty. As Daisy kindly puts it, you're a lot like me, so I know she's in good hands with you - just like Primula is in good hands with Max."

"Am I really the only one who's single?" Naomi asked unhappily.

"Don't worry about it Naomi," Daisy said kindly, "you'll find a boyfriend someday."

"Yeah...maybe."

A little later, Kaede and I were getting ourselves ready for bed, I had already talked to my friends on the Sodor Island Forums a few minutes ago and told them the stories that were told to us by the twins. For tonight, I was going to wear my pajamas, simple T-Shirt with my pajama buttoms while Kaede wore another piece of lingerie.

"At least now we know how Primula and Max, along with Daisy and Monty, become couples," Kaede was saying to me.

"That's true. To be honest here Kaede, when we came back from our trip and we were told that Primula and Daisy were going out with the twins, I was quite surprised when they told us that. I was just thinking to myself, when did that happen?"

"I was thinking the same thing too."

"Well it's like you said, at least we now know."

Kaede nodded her head happily. Once she was changed into that piece of lingerie, she turned off the lights, then she walked over to the bed and layed down on top of me, "Good night Matthew, I love you."

"Good night Kaede, I love you too."

She moved up a bit and kissed me on the lips for a minute and a half, then she moved back down and rested her head on my chest. Then we both closed our eyes and went off happily to sleep. If you're wondering what we were dreaming about, we dreamt about the first time we kissed under the bright lights of the fireflies.


	23. Life is Beautiful

I don't have alot to say right now, just a reminder that the series is rated M for swearing and there will be a 'cute' moment featured in this episode. And now here's episode 23 - enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 23: Life is Beautiful!**_

Monday June 20th was quite a beautiful day - it made me wish I didn't have to work inside today. Still though, Al, Sakura and I did our job until the show was done for the day.

"Well I'm heading out, I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Sakura called.

"See you tomorrow Sakura!" Al and I called in unison.

A minute or so later we heard another call out for Al, "Sana?" he asked. Sure enough, it was Al's wife Sana - she has changed since the last time I saw her. For example, she didn't have her balled pony tails on the top of her head and she was wearing long skirts (she used to wear short skirts), plus she had Yoshida in her arms.

"Hey honey, what are you doing here?" Al asked.

"We came by to see you of course," she said with a smile on her face, then she looked over to me, "it's good to see you again Matthew, it's been a while since I've seen you and Kaede."

"It's good to see you too Sana, it has been a while since we last spoke."

Sana then handed Yoshida over to Al, he rocked her nice and gently and even sang a little song for her (it's the first time I've ever heard Al sing). Just watching that family moment made me smile, but then I shedded a small tear to my right eye.

"Are you okay Matthew?" Sana asked kindly.

"Yeah I'm okay," I said, trying to hide the fact I had a tear in my eye, "you know what Al? You don't have to stay here and help clean up, I'll be fine by myself."

"Okay well if you're sure," he said, I nodded my head, "okay then, come on Sana let's go."

They headed off for the doorway and headed off back to their place, "I never had a good relationship with my parents," I thought to myself, "I only hope that when I do become a father - I'll be a little bit kinder than my parents were to me."

Once my work was done, I headed off back to the house. When I arrived, Nerine and Daryl were just leaving, "hey you two! What are you up to today?"

"We're going out again today," Nerine smiled happily, "I love spending time with Daryl," it was then that she wrapped her arms around Daryl's right arm.

"And I love spending time with you too Nerine," he smiled happily.

"Well have a good time you two," I said kindly.

"We will," they said in unison.

I watched them walk away then I walked up the pathway to the house. Just as I was about to open the door, it was opened by Naomi, "hey Big Bro, love to stay and chat, but I'm already late to meet up with Lance!" She ran past me, then past the gate and out to the streets.

"Oh, hello and goodbye - that's a new one," I thought to myself as I walked in. "Kaede?" I called.

"I'm in here!" she called from the laundry room. This is the one room in the house where the washing and drying machines are, there's also a sink in there - anyways, I walked over to the room and saw Kaede putting laundry into the washing machine, "is something wrong Matthew?"

"Nothing's wrong honey, I'm just so happy to see you." I walked up to her and gave her a hug, she then wrapped her arms around me, "I missed you all day."

"And I missed you too Matthew."

"So what have you been doing all day?"

"I've been doing some housework - after all that is one of the many jobs of a housewife right?" she asked, I nodded my head, "as you can see, I washed the floors today, I washed all the dishes, watered the garden and now I'm doing some laundry."

"You do quite a bit in just one day Kaede," I said, she just smiled at me, "so where's Daisy and Primula?"

"Well, Rimu is in the living room working on her homework with a little help from Max and Daisy is out on a date with Monty. As for Naomi, she went out to see Lance."

"Yeah I know, I just saw her run past just before I came in."

"So how was your day?"

"It was alright, busy as always - although I wish we had been working outside today instead of working inside the studio. Today was such a beautiful day."

"It was," Kaede nodded, "and I hear tomorrow is going to be a sunny day again."

"That's good," I smiled.

For the rest of the day, I helped Kaede do some of the housework until around dinnertime.

Kaede wasn't kidding, the next day was a beautiful day - a little warm out, but that was okay. After work was done for the day, I went over to Ryan and Emily's house to hang out with 'the guys' again.

"Damn it's hot out today," groaned Michael, "I'm sweating buckets here and that's no bullshit."

"Still," I said, "with the good weather we're having today, I think it's a good time to play a little basketball, who's up for a little game?"

"Count me in," said Patrick as he stole the basketball from my hand.

Itsuki and Michael joined in on the game while the others watched from the sidelines and playing their music, not too loudly cause we didn't want the neighbours yelling at us. It was Michael and myself aganist Patrick and Itsuki - they were good I'll admit that, but Michael and I beat them.

"And that's how you kick ass!" cheered Michael when the game was done.

"Good game guys," groaned Itsuki, "I need a drink!"

Luckily for us, Ryan had the cooler out and it was full of sodas and water bottles too. While the others played for a bit, the four of us listened to the radio and would you believe one of the songs we heard was, 'Keep On Moving' by 'Five'.

"Twice in two days, what luck," I thought to myself.

It was then we heard a cellphone ring, "oh that's for me," said Itsuki, he pulled out his cellphone and answered it, "hello? Hi sweetheart...yeah I'm just hanging out with the guys right now...at around six I'm not busy. Sure we can go out to dinner...alright I'll see you later...bye."

"Was that Mayumi?" Patrick asked.

"Yeah it was her," Itsuki smiled, "she was just wondering if I would like to go to dinner with her."

"Are you excited Itsuki?" I asked, "in less than two weeks, you and Mayumi will share a last name."

"Of course I'm excited - I only wish Mayumi and I chose a earlier date to get married."

"Why? So you can get to bed with her?" Patrick asked cheekily. Itsuki's face went bright red the second Patrick said that.

"Yeah come on bro," Michael spoke up, "you can tell us."

"Patrick! Michael!" Dave snapped, "what the hell? You shouldn't ask those type of questions out loud, it's personal!"

I spoke up next, "have you and Mayumi decided on where you're going to live once you're married?"

"Well we were thinking about moving into a nice fancy house," he was saying while Dave had a little bit of an argument with Patrick and Michael, "but for now we're fine with living in an apartment, we've been checking out some apartments for the last week and we finally found the perfect place just for the two of us."

"I sure hope it's bigger than Rin's crappy apartment, that thing is so small," I chuckled.

"No joke," Itsuki chuckled as well, then he spoke in a serious way, "it is a lot bigger than Rin's apartment, it's a very nice place. One of my buddies is holding it for us until Mayumi and I are married."

"I said it before and I'll say it again, you have come a long way since I met you Itsuki - I'm proud of you, I think we all are - right guys?" I called to the guys.

"Yep!" we heard call back, and that included Patrick, Michael and Dave, who finally stopped arguing.

"Thanks guys," Itsuki said happily.

"Now, who's up for another game?" Michael called as he had the basketball, "cause I'm eager to kick Patrick's ass!"

"We'll see who's kicking who's ass here," Patrick cried as he stole the basketball from Michael. The rest of us stood on the sidelines watching those two fight it out in the game.

"It's just like when we were younger," Ryan whispered to me.

"You said it best," I said in agreement.

After hanging out with the guys until around six, I drove on back to the house - along the way, I could see Damon spending time with adopted daughter, they looked like they were having a great time together.

I soon returned to the house, I was just stepping out when I heard someone yell, "Whew! You smell like a dog's dinner!" of course that voice belonged to the red head of the family - Naomi!

"Yeah so what?" I asked, "I was hanging out with the guys alright?"

"That comment was uncalled for Little Sis," Lance called, he was standing near the gate.

"No it's okay Lance, it's who Naomi is - it's part of her personality. Now getting onto a different topic, have you two seen Kaede?"

"Yes we have," Naomi said seriously this time, "your queen is relaxing on the couch in the living room." I thanked Naomi for telling me that, then I walked inside.

Just as she said, I found Kaede sleeping on the couch. I got down on my knees, then I started to run my fingers threw her hair. After a mintue of doing that, I took her left hand and kissed it.

"Hi Matthew," I looked up and saw my beautiful wife smiling at me.

"Hi Kaede, feeling a little tired are you?"

"Just a little. So did you have a good time hanging out with the guys today?"

"Yeah I had a good time hanging out with all of them. Itsuki was talking where he and Mayumi are going to be living after they get married - before that though, Patrick and Michael brought up...ah, something they shouldn't have said," I didn't even need to say it - Kaede knew just what I meant, "and of course that started an argument with Dace which lasted for several minutes and into the next game."

I talked with Kaede for another couple of minutes, then we went to the kitchen to get started on dinner.

The next day was beautiful too, not as warm as yesterday though. Luckily today, Al and I had to do a 'Tech Corner on Location' episode at a construction site. The last two episodes we did was mostly about safety on the job-site and now we were _actually_ on the job-site. Al and I weren't alone as Sakura was joining us today.

Most of the building was complete, but the top levels weren't done yet - so we were walking on the beams.

"One thing to remember up here," Sakura was saying as was looking down to the cameras (if you're wondering, she's wearing jeans today), "keep your safety rope on at all times. So in case you fall, you won't get hurt."

"Quite right Sakura," said Al, "as Matthew always says 'Safety First'."

Our construction worker friends, Hiro, Katsu and David showed us around some more and pointed out what they needed to do before their job was complete.

When the show was done for the day, Sakura, Al and I hung out with our construction friends for a while.

"Last we heard from you guys, Al's wife was pregnant and Matthew and Kaede were only a couple," said David, "we sure miss alot when we don't stay in contact."

"Yeah a lot has changed since the last time we spoke," Al said, "Sana gave birth to a healthy baby girl, which we named Yoshida."

"Oh and Al," Katsu spoke up, "We're sorry about what happened that day, we just had a small accident while we were working."

"Ah don't worry about it, it's thanks to Matthew and Damon that Sana got to the hospital before she gave birth," then he added as he looked over to me, "although you did miss Kaede's graduation."

"Only a small portion of it, I came in just as she was given an award."

"Still, it's great just to be able to talk to you guys again," Hiro smiled, "and it's a pleasure to meet you Sakura, tell me - do you have a boyfriend?"

"I sure do, his name is Michael."

"As in the same Michael that sung 'Hanging By A Moment' live on the show last week?" David asked.

"That's him," I answered.

"He was good," he then looked over to Sakura, "make sure you tell him that I said that."

"I will," Sakura smiled.

We talked with our construction friends until around five when it was time for us to go. Sakura had to meet up with Michael for a date, Al went home to spend some time with his wife and daughter and as for me - I went home to see Kaede.

Before I got into my truck though, my cellphone rang, it was Kaede on the other end, "before you come home, can you pick up a few things from the grogery store?"

"Of course I will," I smiled, "what would you like me to get?"

I took out a pen and paper, then I wrote down everything Kaede wanted me to get, "sure, I can get those things...alright then, I'll see you when I get home...I love you too Kaede...bye."

I hung up the cellphone, got into my truck and drove off to the store.

I walked around the store several times making sure I wasn't forgotting anything, but of course I nearly did forget something, "I always seem to forget the rice," I chuckled to myself.

"Same as always huh Matthew?" asked another voice. I looked to my right and saw who the voice belonged to, it was Lisa Brugger, "it seems everytime you come to the grogery store alone, you always forget the rice."

"Yeah I know, I guess it's just me - so what are you doing here Lisa?"

"I'm doing some shopping, I was running low on food back at home."

She then picked up some rice from the shelf, "what? No slap today?" I asked, she shook her head, "Wow you must've had a bad day at work huh?"

"You don't know the half of it, I got yelled out by my boss for not working fast enough, then someone poured coffee on my keyboard," she sighed unhappily, "then someone stole my lunch."

"Oh boy that is a bad day," I said, "wanna a hug Lisa?"

"Sure," she said and walked up to me. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her while she hugged me back - back when we were kids, I used to hug Lisa all the time whenever she was upset or if she had a bad day, truth be told the last time I hugged Lisa was under the bridge that one winter's day.

"Thanks Matthew, I feel a lot better now," to prove it, Lisa smacked me on the back - hard!

"Oh yeah," I groaned, "you're feeling much better now."

"I sure am!" she giggled and ran off, similar to the way Asa would after slapping Rin on the back.

I went back to shopping for what I needed to get, then after paying for the food and loading it up in the truck, I drove off back to the house.

When I returned, I put all the grogeries away, then I walked out to the back yard, cause that's where Kaede was. She was sitting on the grass and looking up to the stars (by now it was six thirty).

"Sorry it took me so long getting me home this time, I ran into Lisa at the store," I was saying as I sat down beside her.

"Did she slap you on the back again?"

"She did, well - after I gave her a hug, she had a bad day at work."

"That was nice of you Matthew."

Kaede and I went quiet as we both layed down and looked up to the stars above us, "so where are our sisters?"

"Daisy and Rimu are over at Max and Monty's house right now, they're going to be there all night for a sleepover. As for Naomi, she's at Yukie and Shiori's house for another sleepover."

"So in other words, we got the whole house to ourselves right?"

"That's true," she said quietly.

"Hey Kaede, would it be okay if I cook for you tonight?" I asked, she looked over to me, smiled and nodded happily. I got to my feet, then I helped Kaede to her feet, then we both walked inside.

Kaede sat at the table while I made dinner tonight. While I was working, I was playing one of my mix CDs, one such song I would sing at times was called 'The World Could Use a Cowboy' by 'Adam Gregory'.

"_The World Could use a Cowboy right about now,_

_ And run those bad guys out of town._"

As I cooked, I could hear Kaede hum along to that song to, then when it got to the one part I liked singing, Kaede started singing it out loud along with me. Tonight, Kaede and I ate in the living room and watched the 'anime network' while we ate (quite like our romantic night). We watched the shows 'Kanon (2006 Version)' and 'Clannad'.

We watched animes until nine when Kaede turned off the TV, "getting tired Kaede?"

"No," she answered, she then looked at me with that look in her eyes, "can we 'make love' tonight?"

"Of course we can honey. Just me a minute to lock the doors and close the curtains," with that said, I walked around the house locking the doors and closing all the curtains, then Kaede and I walked up the stairs side by side to our room. I closed the door and locked the locks.

Kaede closed the curtains, then she sat down on the bed. I walked over to her, then we kissed on the lips for two minutes. When we were done our kiss, I took her ribbon out of her hair and placed it on the stand next to the king's sword.

(If you're wondering what Kaede was wearing at this time, she was wearing her blue shirt and dark yellow shorts).

Kaede lifted up her arms while I pulled her shirt up, once it was off, I tossed over to the dresser. Kaede then took my shirt off and tossed it over to the dresser.

"You're blushing my dear Kaede," I said with a smile on my face.

"So are you," she giggled happily.

I then took off Kaede's socks, then she took mine off. She wrapped her arms around me as our lips connected again. While I was kissing her, I was reaching for the little hook on the back of her bra - finally I disconnected it, but I didn't remove it until we stopped kissing.

Shortly after that bra came off, I took her shorts off and tossed them over to the floor, then I started kissing her stomach - I heard her giggle happily as I kissed her.

After kissing, she undid the belt for my pants, then she took them off and tossed them over to where her shorts and bra were.

We then got up from the bed, then at the same time - we took each other's underwear off. Kaede layed back down on the bed and awaited for what was coming next. She spread her legs just as I got back onto the bed, then I buried my hips in between hers, I rolled us a bit until I was in. Then came another kiss on the lips for thirty seconds.

"I love you Matthew," Kaede said after our kiss.

"And I love you too Kaede," I said happily.

I just stared into the beautiful blue eyes of the girl I loved, I felt so happy to be with the girl of my dreams - the girl I love with my heart and soul and the girl that saved me back when I was disowned, fired and became homeless, Kaede is everything to me.

We then felt sharp jolts from our hips, which made us groan. My chest was now pressed aganist her's, which allowed her to wrap her arms around me.

"Oh!" Kaede moaned as I rolled my hips. I kept this up for...I don't know how long...anyhow, I slowed down my thursts until she cried out, "harder! Faster!"

"You got it," I grunted.

The heat in the room was building up, making us both sweat alot. I stared at Kaede's beautiful face, she was still smiling and blushing happily. I did as she asked until I heard my skin smack aganist hers.

"Oh...yyeesss!" Kaede cried.

I went in even harder, making her scream - it wasn't long though before I screamed because I felt her clench. So I slowed my thrusts down, making this last longer.

"I love you," I whispered to my beautiful wife.

"And I love you too," she whispered back to me.

She then noticed my arms shaking a bit, she could tell that I was getting tired. I didn't pull out just yet though, we remained connected for a couple more minutes. We were still smiling and blushing throughout that time and staring into each other's blue eyes.

I pulled out after a couple more minutes and layed down to her right side, we were both panting and covered in sweat. She moved over towards me and layed her head softly on my chest.

We layed there for a bit, then we closed our eyes and went to sleep.

The next morning, Kaede and I woke up at the same time - 4:30 A.M., the whole room smelled like love. Then we went to the washroom to take a shower together, Kaede sat there on the stool while I washed her hair.

"Last night was so...beautiful and wonderful," she said to me.

"You know something Kaede, that's just what I was going to say."

"Great minds always think alike."

"That's true - now are you sure I'm not getting any soap in your eyes?"

"Nope, no soap is getting into my eyes," she said with a happy tone in her voice.

After our shower, we went back to our room and got changed into our clothes. An hour later, our sisters came home, "So what were our two lovebirds doing last night?" Naomi asked cheekily.

"None of your business," Kaede and I said in unison as we walked into the kitchen.

" 'None of your business' they say," she grunted, "I hate hearing that!"

"Get used to it," said Daisy as she walked up to her room, "that's the answer you'll get when you ask those kinds of questions," and with that said, Daisy walked away, leaving Naomi speechless.


	24. Constructive

In this chapter, all the guys get together to help do some minor repairs to Michael's place, I owe a great deal of thanks to my bro Mike11208 who helped me with this story. This episode's rating is the same as always for there is swearing included and the date of this chapter starts on Friday June 24th 2011. Enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 24: Constructive**_

I was resting on the couch again after another long day at work, I was quite pleased that the weekend had finally come, this meant a perfect chance to rest. Of course as you can guess, Kaede was laying down on top of me again. We were taking a little nap, that was until I heard my cellphone ring.

"I'll get it for you Matthew," Kaede said kindly. She reached over to my left side and pulled it out of the cellphone pocket.

"Thanks honey," I said kindly, I answered the phone, "hello?"

"Is this my big bro Matthew," the voice on the end said, I knew it was.

"You got him," I chuckled, Kaede giggled, "what's up Michael?"

"I was wondering if you could come over tomorrow and help me with some household repairs, I need to get this place ready for the inspection in a few days," he said to me, "will you help?"

"Of course I'll help, is it just going to be you and me working tomorrow?"

"Nah, all the guys are going to be over here helping. Believe me there's a lot I have to do around here, especially in the basement, it looks like a crapshack in there."

"Well don't worry I'll be there."

"Thanks bro."

I then hung up the phone, "Well I'm going to be a little busy this weekend," I was saying, "I'm going to be helping Michael do some minor repair work on his house. Is that okay?"

"Of course it is," she said happily, "I know you like to help people, that's one of the reasons why I love you."

"Thanks Kaede," I said happily as I rubbed my fingers threw her hair. She moved up a bit, then she kissed me on the lips for two minutes.

The next morning, I drove up to Michael's place. As I was walking up to his place, I could see Sakura walking out, but she stopped at the doorway. Michael walked up to her and gave her a kiss on the lips. I stayed where I was until they had finished their kiss, then I watched as Sakura walked away.

"Hey bro," I said, "was Sakura spending the night with you again?"

"Nah, she just came by for a short visit," he answered, "come inside Matthew, the others will be here soon."

As I walked in, I could hear some music playing, "I know that song, it's called 'Yours to Hold' by 'Skillet'. You really like listening to that group don't you?"

"Hell freaking yeah! I love listening to Skillet!"

"Yeah I like listening to Skillet too, Kaede and I were listening to some of their songs last night."

While we waited for the others, Michael took me down to the basement where most of the work needed to be done. "Damn mice have made holes in the wall," he was saying to me, "my pipes also burst over a month ago and filled the whole damn basement full of shit. What we need to do is replace the walls and installation."

"What about the pipes?"

"I've replaced those too, so the damn things won't be doing that again."

"So what else do you need repaired?"

"Well in the guest room, the mice damaged some of the walls there too, nasty little bastards," he muttered, "they've also damaged the wall behind my couch."

"Then it's a good thing you called for all of us to help. So who else is coming?"

"Well let's see...we got Ryan, Patrick, Itsuki, Rin, Cam, Dave and Daryl."

"So all the guys this time huh?"

"Well all but Max, Monty and Al, they're all busy...ah excuse me Matthew, I need to go back upstairs and see if the others are here yet - damn doorbell is busted."

"Sure Michael - hey, do you want me to fix that doorbell?"

"Fine with me."

So I followed Michael up the stairs. He went out to the porch to see if the others were here yet while I worked on the doorbell. When Ryan and Patrick arrived, I touched the wrong wire and shocked myself.

"Shocking isn't it?" Patrick chuckled.

"Ha-ha," I muttered sarcastically, then I looked over to Michael, "you definetly need a new doorbell. I'll go to the hardware store and get you one okay bro?"

"Sure thing."

So I went out to my truck and went off to the hardware store.

By the time I returned, all the guys had arrived and were already getting to work in smashing the wall in the two rooms and in the basement, "you know you guys could've waited for me to come back," I said.

"Sorry Matthew," said Michael, "but the others wanted to get to work as soon as possible."

"Nah no harm done. Anyways I got that new doorbell, I'm going to install it now okay?"

"Sure thing bro."

So, once again I went to work on the doorbell. Once I was done there, I tested it out - it worked perfectly, "it's better than that shitty thing I had before," said Michael, "thanks Matthew."

"No problem, now give me a sledge hammer, I want to smash a wall."

"Going sadistic on me now?" he joked. So Michael handed me a sledge hammer and I went to work in smashing up the wall. The guys continued working while I did my job, good thing they too - cause the sledge hammer slipped out of my hand and smashed into another wall.

"Damn Matthew!" called Cam, who was standing close to where the hammer had hit, "that was too close for my comfort!"

"Holy mother of God! Matthew, we know you wanna help, but please stick to one wall." Michael said.

"It wasn't my fault, the darn thing slipped out of my hands. Sorry about that Cam."

"Don't worry about it," he said as he went back to work.

I grabbed up my sledge hammer and went back to the wall I was working on. After that, I finished my 'unfinished' job on the other wall. As we worked, Michael spoke up to Itsuki, "you never did answer Patrick's question the other day, have you and Mayumi...you know."

"Michael!" Dave snapped.

"Dave, shut the hell up!" Michael snapped back, "We all know that you've done it with Sia."

"Dammit!" Dave said angerily, "Does everyone know that I made love to Sia that one night?"

"Pretty much." Michael said, then he looked over to Itsuki, "you tell us bro, we will not say a single word to anyone." Itsuki was still silent, but he was blushing, "I thought as much, you _did_ do it."

"As that girl Kareha would say 'oh la la!' "shouted Patrick from his end of the basement.

"Okay yeah so Mayumi and I made out," he said out loud, then he spoke in a calm way, "let me tell you guys, she is so cute and so beautiful too...hey Michael, can I use your phone for a bit, I want to call Mayumi for a bit."

"Go ahead, dude. Just don't take too long."

"Thanks, I'll be back." He then walked out of the basement.

"Wow, that dude seriously loves Mayumi." Michael said with a smile, "Sounds an awful lot like Matthew," he looked over to me, "Since you're married to Kaede, I'm sure you've already fucked her more than one."

I didn't say a word at all.

"I should have known," he chuckled, then he looked over to Rin, "I think though that Rin is the only one out of all of us who's gotten his girlfriend pregnant, and I'm the only one to use protection while fucking."

"You guys are never going to let me live it down are you?" he groaned.

"At least you're doing the right thing Rin," I called, "you're marrying Asa and you're going to help her raise that child."

"You'd be a fucking asshole if you didn't," added Michael.

"Michael! Watch the cussing!" Dave snapped.

"What? I know you guys were thinking that same thing. I just decided to say it out loud. And don't tell me not to cuss! You're in my house, foo'!" then he changed the subject as he looked over to Cam, "what about you? Do you have a girlfriend yet?"

"No, I just moved here Michael, it's too soon to have a girlfriend."

Rin then shouted, "you said that I'm the only one out of you guys who got his girlfriend pregnant - am I assuming that means that you've made love to Sakura?"

"I mentioned it a minute ago, Rin. No shit I did it with her. Now, onward with the work!"

And that's just what we did. For the rest of the day, we smashed up all the walls, then we put up some drywall until around five when we headed off back to our places. Of course we promised to return tomorrow to continue with the work.

When I got home, I walked upstairs feeling wiped out. I knocked on the bathroom door, "who's there?" I heard Kaede's voice call out.

"It's me Kaede, can I come in?"

"Of course you can!" she called. I opened the door and walked into the bathroom - Kaede was just getting out of the bathtub, (so as you can guess, she wasn't wearing anything), she blushed a cute blush and smiled, "how was your day Matthew?"

"It was okay, a little tiring though," I was washing my hands while Kaede wrapped her green towel around her, "what about you?"

"I had a good day too, but it wasn't the same without you dear."

I walked up to my wife and gave her a big hug. She didn't say a single word, she simply hugged me back. After the hug, and after she got her pink slippers on, we walked off back to our bedroom with our hands holding onto each other.

The next day, it was raining hard once again. All of us guys were working once again in Michael's house, and this time we had some help from Al, Max and Monty too, Rin however wasn't there.

"Do you think he's sick?" Daryl asked.

"Actually," Michael called out, "he phoned me earlier and said he won't be able to come over, he said he wanted to spend the day with Asa."

"Like I said yesterday," I said as I was placing some drywall up, "he's doing the right thing staying with Asa."

"True that, bro."

"If he didn't," Cam said out loud, "I would pound the shit out of him the next time I saw him."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Max spoke up, "but didn't Matthew already do that once before?"

"He did," said Monty.

"I only punched him in the face that one time," I spoke up, "he was saying that he was going to break up with Asa - he was talking stupid, so that's why I punched him."

"Dude, to be honest, I'd kick his ass right on the spot if I heard that." said Michael.

"Same here," shouted Max and Monty together.

"If we were on your side during that time," said Ryan, "we would've done the same thing. Although," he added, "I heard that Matthew did that to a couple of other people in the past too."

"Yeah, I punched Damon once."

"What?" all the guys exclaimed.

"He was off duty at the time okay? He was thinking about not going through with the wedding, so I punched some sense into him. Now, can someone help me hold up this drywall?"

Itsuki came over and helped me push it back while Al screwed in the screws (surprising enough he was being unusually quiet).

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you guys yesterday," he said, finally breaking his vow of silence, "but I was spending the day with my daughter. We played tea party yesterday, she made me the king."

"How cute," I smiled.

"Speaking of Damon," Ryan spoke up again, "I heard that he and Koyuki adopted a young girl."

"They did," I called, "the little girl's name is Kaite," everyone looked over to me, "I met that young girl when I went to the orphanage for information about Lance. Once I had the info I needed, I phoned Damon and told him about Katie - then a few days he and Koyuki adopted her."

"Daisy and I got to meet that little girl," said Monty, "she's as cute a button and so sweet, and believe me - Daisy was thinking the same thing."

"Great minds think alike," I chuckled.

At last, Al had all the screws in the drywall, then we went to work on the next piece of drywall. By around five, all the hard work was done, then we went home for the day.

The next afternoon after work was done for the day, Al and I went back to Michael's place to help with the final bit of work that needed to be done. Rin and the other guys were too, and so was Sakura.

"I hope you don't mind if I help," she said to Michael.

"Nah, I don't mind." he smiled, "I think it's cute that you'd like to help me."

Sakura got the honors of destorying the last of the original drywall in the living room, "Damn girl!" Michael said out loud, "you've got muscle, Sakura. Have you ever done this before?"

"I sure have, I used to do this all the time back in the states."

Meanwhile in the guest room, Al, Itsuki and I were putting more drywall again, with a little help from Mayumi and Kaede, they wanted to help too.

As for the others, they were working in the kitchen.

It took a while, but at last by seven that evening, we were done our work.

"Everything looks perfect. Thank you all so much for your help," Michael said to us, "I know I've taking up alot of your time. And I mean _a lot _of your time."

"It's okay Michael," said Dave, "we were happy to help you."

"Is everyone becoming mind readers or something?" I asked out loud, "cause that's _excatly_ what I was going to say." Of course everyone had to laugh at that little joke.

"Well thank you once again for all your help, I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome Michael," Sakura said happily as she wrapped her arms around Michael's left arm and rested her head on his shoulder.

We said our good nights, then we headed off back to our places. When Kaede and I got home, she took a bath first while I watched an episode of 'Clannad' on the anime network.

"Matthew," I heard Kaede call me seven minutes later, "you take your shower now."

"Thanks Kaede."

"What are you watching?"

"I was just watching Clannad, but you can watch whatever you want okay?" I said to her as I got up from the couch. Kaede nodded her head. I was about to walk out of the living room, but I stopped right in front of her, then I kissed her on the lips again. We kissed for about four minutes, then I went upstairs to take my bath.

The next afternoon (Tuesday June 28th 2011), I was just coming home after a long day at work. This week was a special treat as we were talking about how to operate diesel locomotives - truth be told, I knew more than Al did (helps to be a railfan huh)?

"That was a wonderful show Matthew," Kaede said to me, she was standing in the doorway.

"Thanks Kaede," I smiled as I stepped in, "how did I do though? Do you think I did a good enough job on explaining how a diesel locomotive works?"

"You did, you were wonderful."

I was about to reply back to her when we heard the phone ring, "Hello?" I answered the phone.

"Sup bro, it's Michael."

"Hey bro, so how was the inspection?"

"It was perfect, the inspector was quite pleased with this house - he was also impressed by our handy work. The good news, the house has passed it's inspection, the bad news - it's so damn lonely around here." Michael said with a funny voice.

"You don't have to be alone Michael," I heard another call.

"Is that Sakura I hear?" I asked.

"Yeah and she's not alone, she brought her baby sister here with her," he said. I heard Rose say 'hi' to us, "I gotta go Matthew, I promised Sakura that I'd spend some time with her and Rose today."

"Okay Michael, have a good time bro."

"You know I will. Oh, and thanks again. Make sure to pass that on to Kaede for me."

"I will," I said. I hung up the phone and looked back over to Kaede, "Michael passed the inspection and the inspector was quite impressed with our work, Michael asked me to tell you that he says 'thank you' again."

Kaede just smiled at me. Since we were tired once again, we went back into the living room, laid down on the couch and watched some of our favourite shows.

A little later, I was talking with my friends on the Sodor Island Forums again.

"Boy you guys have been working your butts off like crazy," said danparker's message, "good to know though that it was worth it and that the inspector was impressed with your work."

"Now I wish we were in Tokyo," said Jamesfan's message, "I would like to see the hard work you guys did."

"I'm sure you will the next time you guys come here, I'm sure you will," I replied back.

"How's Itsuki and Mayumi doing anyways?" Sierracat27's message asked.

"They are doing quite well, they are both excited for their upcoming wedding. Itsuki even said to me that once he and Mayumi are married, they are going to be moving into their own apartment."

"I hope it's bigger than Rin's apartment," said Warrior's message, "his apartment is only the size of a bedroom."

"From what Itsuki told me, the apartment he and Mayumi are going to be living in is a lot bigger than Rin's apartment - he also said it was a lovely place."

I talked with my friends for a few minutes, then I read another Extended Railway Series book for about twenty three minutes (yes I'm a fast reader), then I logged off and shut down my computer, just as Kaede came into the bedroom. I got changed into my dark blue pajama buttoms while Kaede got changed into her pajamas that looked so much like her white dress.

I layed down on the bed first, then Kaede layed down on top of me.

"Hey Kaede, before we go to bed, would you like to hear another song?"

"Yes please," she said with that cute smile showing.

So I reached over for my Ipod, then I gave one of the earphones to Kaede. I searched threw the list of songs until I found the one I wanted to sing which was 'Turn It Up (I Like The Sound Of That)' by 'Aaron Lines'. I pressed the play button once I placed the other earplug in my ear.

_I like the sound of the ocean crashing_

_ Waves making their way to the beach_

_ And I like the sound of the gulf breeze blowing_

_ Holding your hand with sand on our feet_

_ I like the sound of raindrops dancing_

_ as we sleep away a Sunday afternoon_

_ But I like the sound of the alarm clock ringing_

_ Means I'll spend another day with you_

_ So Turn It up, turn it up_

_ Turn it up a little louder_

_ I can never ever get enough_

_ Turn It Up, Turn It Up_

_ Cause whenever I'm around you_

_ You've got me thinking that I like the sound of that_

_ I like the sound of a fireplace crackling_

_ Watching a movie, holding you tight_

_ Yeah I love it when I hear you laughing_

_ At that joke I've told a thousand times_

_ And I like the sound of guitars screaming_

_ Music so loud we talk with our eyes_

_ So Turn It up, turn it up_

_ Turn it up a little louder_

_ I can never ever get enough_

_ Turn It Up, Turn It Up_

_ Cause whenever I'm around you_

_ You've got me thinking that I like the sound of that_

_ Yeah, ooh_

_ I like the sound of your heart beating_

_ In my arms right here, right now_

_ When it's so quiet, I can you breathing_

_ That maybe my favourite sound_

_ So turn it Up, turn it up, turn it up_

_ Turn it up a little louder_

_ I can never ever get enough_

_ Turn It Up, Turn It Up_

_ Cause whenever I'm around you_

_ You've got me thinking that I like the sound of that_

_ Turn It up, turn it up_

_ Turn it up a little louder_

_ I can never ever get enough_

_ Turn It Up, Turn It Up_

_ Cause whenever I'm around you_

_ You've got me thinking that I like the sound of that_

_ Ohh yeah. Yeah. Ohh yeah._

Kaede waited until I had my breath back, then she kissed me on the lips. I kissed her back and wrapped my arms around her. We kissed for two mintues, then we went queit.

"When I hear _you_ breathing," she said to me, "that is my favourite sound. I love you Matthew."

"And I love you too Kaede."

She rested her head comfortably on my chest, but then she looked around, "where are the dolphins?"

"I got them right here next to our pillow," I said looking to my right. Kaede looked too and saw they _were_ there, "are you feeling comfortable Kaede?"

She nodded happily, "I'll see you in the morning Matthew."

"And I'll see you in the morning Kaede," I said with the usual wink, she giggled happily. We then kissed our eyes and went happily to sleep.


	25. A Day Full of Surprises

Well my friends, I am proud to present the 25th chapter of the Our Kinda Life series. The rating of this episode is going to be M as there is going to be some swearing included, plus there's a little surprise due to come up in this very chapter, oh and the chapter's date is Wednesday June 29th 2011.

Now as you will notice in this story, Rin will go out of character, but only for this story, he will return to his normal personality after this chapter. This chapter was just something I created out of boredom. Anyways, that's all I have to say for now, except - I hope you will enjoy reading the 25th chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 25: A Day Full of Surprises**_

I woke up to the sounds of my darn old alarm clock going off. I reached over to get it, but I didn't get it cause Kaede had gotten to it first, "Good morning sleepy head," she giggled happily.

"Good morning my beautiful wife," I said happily. I rubbed the right side of her face softly with my left hand, she blushed happily.

"I had a wonderful dream last night."

"Oh really," I was interested, "what was your dream about?"

"Well...I was dreaming that we were riding on one of the Strasburg Railroad's steam passenger trains, and we weren't alone," she was saying, I raised an eyebrow with interest.

"Who else was riding with us honey?"

"It was...our children." she said with a happy tone in her voice, "isn't that a wonderful dream Matthew?"

"It is," I nodded while running my fingers threw her hair, "it sounds like a wonderful dream to have."

A little later, after we had eaten our breakfast and after helping to clean the dishes, our sisters left with Lance, Max and Monty. I was the next to go, "have a good day at work Matthew," Kaede said kindly to me.

"I will," I smiled, "and you have a good day too Kaede, I'll see you when I get home."

"Okay, I'll see you later."

She walked up to me and gave me a kiss on the left side of my face, I kissed her back on the right side of her face, then I walked off for the truck. She waved to me until I was out of sight.

Kaede turned and walked back into the house, but then she stopped - she groaned for a second, then she ran off to the washroom. Reason being that she was going to throw up! When she got in, she ran over to the sink and vomited into it. She stopped a few seconds later, panted for a few more seconds, then she vomited again. After a minute or so, she looked at herself in the mirror.

"Could it be..." she thought to herself, she looked to her left and noticed the unused home pregnancy box sitting there, "only one way to find out."

As for me, I was just getting out of my truck and was walking onto the set. Al was already setting everything up for today's show, he was bringing out the console of a diesel locomotive, "can you tell me a little bit about all the equipment here Matthew?" Al asked.

"Sure thing," I walked over to the console, "this is obviously the console of a retired SD-40 locomotive. The newer locomotives nowadays have computer consoles."

"You sure do know a lot about trains don't you?"

"I know as much as any railfan would," I said, "now I'll show how to operate some of this stuff..."

About fifteen minutes later, our show had began. "Hello everybody, I'm Matthew Gagnon and you all know my assistant Al. Today, we're going to be talking about how to operate a variety of locomotives."

"That's right Matthew," said Al as he stood near the console again, "as you can see here, we have the console of an S40 diesel engine."

"That's an SD-40 Al," I corrected him, "SD-40s are operated with these kinds of consoles."

"And it's not just SD-40s," said Al, "many of the older style diesels have these kinds of consoles. This level here," he said while holding onto one of them, "is the main throttle that gets the engine moving. If you look closely, you can see little numbers just above the throttle - depending on which number you have it at, that will bring your speed up to a certain point."

"For example," I spoke up, "if you have the throttle at eight, your engine will go as fast as seventy to eighty miles per hour."

"Then there's your brake handle..."

"Or dynamic brakes as they're called by railfans and railway crews," I said.

"Right Matthew. These are the _main_ brakes for the older style diesel engines like SD-40s. The engineer pulls back on the brake handle slowly in order to slow the train down to the proper speed or if they're going to stop somewhere."

"Just a little note folks, trains can't stop on a dime - it takes them about half a mile to stop, so don't take chances on level crossings."

"Too true Matthew, that's some good advice, right everyone?" Al asked the audience, they all clapped and cheered in agreement, "now, we happen to have some footage of various near misses and smash ups at crossings, thus proving Matthew's point."

Sakura brought out the television screen, then turned it on. The audience gasped in complete shock at some of the footage shown, one of which showed a freight train smashing into a tractor trailer and pushing it into some cars (sounds awfully familiar doesn't it?). As the footage continued to play, some of the moments I saw reminded me of the various incidents Kaede and I saw during our trip to Strasburg.

After the footage was done, we went back to explaining about the console. Al explained a lot (thanks to the info I gave him earlier), then I explained about something important, "in case of emergencies, the engineer can always use his emergency brakes - or Independent brakes as they are known as, to help slow the train down. There's actually two here, one for the driver and the second is on the conductor's side of the cab."

After the long day at work, I helped Al clean up the set, "how did I do Matthew?" Al asked.

"You did pretty good out there Al, especially when you were talking about the braking systems on the locomotives and freight cars."

"Well I have you to thank, you know a lot more than I do when it comes to railroads, trains and the equipment used," he said as he swept up the floor, "just explain to me one time about the special braking system in trains nowadays."

"Well Al, the special braking in trains is called 'The dead man's brake', should anything happen to the engineer while the train's out on the line, these brakes are automatically applied and the train is brought to a stop. However, those brakes won't work if the airhoses aren't tied in on every engine and car."

"Let me guess, it would run away like the locomotives in 'Unstoppable' did huh?"

"Too true and there's one rule engineers should never brake when their train is in motion - never, and I mean never, ever leave the cab, unless it's a real emergency. Ah...I'm not boring you with all the information I know am I?"

"Nah, it's quite interesting Matthew, I think everyone will agree with me on that part."

"Well I'm glad I'm not boring you or anyone else - most of my friends back in Canada used to say that I was boring them everytime I talked about trains."

"Well it's not boring, it's interesting - I think you're going to make a train fan out of me."

"Maybe," I chuckled, "and for the record Al, train fans are known as railfans."

"Oh okay."

I chuckled again as I finished up the last of my work. When the work was done, I went to the back, got all my stuff, said good night to Al, got into my truck and drove off back to the house, listening to 'Me and My Gang' by 'Rascal Flatts'.

Back at the house, Kaede was washing some dishes and looking at the clock on the wall, "he's going to really surprised when I tell him," she thought happily to herself.

Just as she had finished washing the last dish in the sink, she heard the doorbell ring. She went over to the front door to answer it, "oh hi Rin," she said, "what are you doing here?"

"Well I came by to pick up that novel Matthew said I could borrow a few days ago. Do you know where it is?"

"I sure do, it's in the kitchen." Kaede turned and walked back over to the kitchen, Rin followed close behind her. "I think Naomi might've hidden it again," Kaede was looking threw the bookshelf, "oh wait here it is," she then handed it to Rin.

"Thanks Kaede."

"You're welcome Rin," she said as she got back to her feet and walked back over to the counter.

"You know, just standing here in this kitchen reminds me so much of when I used to live here with you," he said while he looked over to Kaede, "whenever we came home from school, we would always come into the kitchen and talk about our day. Then there were those few days when we worked on our homework in this very room."

"I remember that, those were good times," she smiled.

"They sure were," Rin sighed, "hey Kaede, on the night before I moved out, didn't you say to me that if I ever need to, I could move back in here with you?"

"Yes I remember that, but a lot has changed since that time Rin. Daisy is now sleeping in my old room, Naomi's got the old guest room, Rimu's still got her room and I'm with Matthew in our room."

"Speaking of Matthew, where is he?"

"He's probably doing some last minute clean up jobs on the set before coming home."

"Really?" he asked in a suspicious way. Kaede looked over to him a little confused, "hey Kaede, do you remember that night you came into my room completely naked and you asked me if you could be mine?"

"Yes but...things have changed Rin," Kaede was now starting to get nervous.

Rin walked over to the counter, "well if you want me Kaede - you can have me."

"But I don't want you, besides you got Asa."

"I don't want Asa - I want you. You can have me Kaede," he said in a voice that scared Kaede. He then looked down to Kaede's hips...

At this time, I was walking up to the kitchen when I heard Kaede scream, "NO!"

I opened the door and looked to see Rin's hands going for Kaede's hips. I charged at Rin and punched him hard in the face, knocking him back a bit and into the counter. Kaede had her eyes closed, so she didn't see anything - she opened them and saw me standing in between her and Rin. I stared down at Rin with an angry stare.

"What the hell was that for?" he groaned as he got back to his feet.

"You have a lot of nerve asking that question Rin!" I snarled angrily, (last time I was this angry was when those knuckleheads attacked Kaede), "I'm the one who should be asking the questions here, like...what the hell were you going to do to my wife?"

"I was going to give her what she wanted all along." he answered, "she doesn't deserve to be with a loser like you, I was just giving her what she wanted."

"I'm going to give you to the count of 10 Rin, and if you're not out of here, your next trip will be to the hospital!"

"You can't be serious."

"1...2...3..." he still wasn't moving, "4...5...6..." at last he walked away from the counter, but stopped by the doorway, "you're really driving my patience here."

"You're serious," he gasped.

"Damn right I'm serious...7, 8, 9, 10!" Rin ran as fast as he could as I chased after him, "you're going to pay for trying to touch my wife you bastard!" I snapped angrily.

Rin charged out of the house and past the gate, running past Michael and Sakura who were out on another date.

"Hey Rin. You look like you just ran a marathon. What's the occasion?"

"It's Matthew, he's trying to freaking kill me!"

"What? You're joking. There's no way he'd do such a thing-" said Michael, but he was going to be proven wrong as he saw me running in their direction. "I stand corrected."

I came out to the streets, I could see Rin running in the distance. I picked up a rock and tossed it - it smacked him on the back of his head, "you better run you fucking bastard!" I shouted out to him, "Cause the next time I see you, I'm going to break every bone in your body!"

Rin ran off, not daring to look back.

"Whoa bro," said Michael, "I can't believe you actually said 'fuck'. First off, I'm proud of ya bro! Second, what the hell's going on?"

"He nearly touched Kaede in a dirty way." I said angrily.

"You serious?" he gasped, then he looked back in Rin's direction. "You better run Rin! Or your fate is sealed!" I nodded my head in agreement, then I ran back inside. "I've seen Matthew get mad like that before, but I never thought I would hear him say that word. Guess he's changing."

"I never thought I would see the day," Sakura added quietly.

I walked into the kitchen, Kaede was still standing in the same spot she was standing at before, "Kaede, he didn't touch you did he?"

"No he didn't," she shook her head, "I told him I didn't want him, but he said that I could have him. He also said that he doesn't want Asa anymore. Matthew, did I hear you say _that_ word?"

"Yeah I said it and I think I might be saying it again - cause I'm going to have a real serious chat with Rin."

"Ah Matthew, I have something important to tell you..."

"Can it wait for a bit Kaede?" I asked as kindly as I could.

"Sure Matthew," she nodded.

I walked back out to my truck, just as Naomi and Lance showed up, "hey Big Bro, what's going on?" Naomi asked. She got no answer out of me. I got into the truck, started it up and drove off to Rin's apartment.

"What the heck is going on here?" Lance asked.

"We'll tell you guys," said Sakura, she and Michael were still standing just outside the house, and so they told Lance and Naomi everything.

I finally drove up to Rin's apartment, I was sure the fool was already home at this time. I walked firmly up the stairs, then instead of knocking on the door, I kicked it open! "it wasn't locked," Rin said, sounding like he wasn't shocked to see me, "you just had to turn the handle."

I was so mad at Rin that I walked over to where he was, then I punched him in the face again.

"Seriously, would ya knock it off!" he snapped at me.

"Oh I can do that - but not in the way you're thinking," I snarled angrily at him, "I heard from Kaede that you don't want Asa anymore and worst still, I catch you trying to touch my wife. You better explain yourself before I pound the shit out of you!"

"First you say 'Fuck' and now you're saying 'Shit', you're really building up your..."

"TALK, DAMN YOU!" I snapped at him.

"Fine," Rin said as he got to his feet, "I just don't want Asa anymore, I want everything to be like it was before when Kaede, Sia and Nerine were mine - all mine and not with losers like you and the Sutton twins."

"Okay - I did not just hear that."

"Then I'll say it again, I want Kaede, Sia and Nerine to be mine again, they don't deserve losers like you!"

"You're just asking for it Rin - I know you did not just say that. And what about Asa, she's the girl you fell in love with. You even risked your own life for that girl!"

"I don't want Asa, she was never mine to begin with. I'd rather be sleeping with Kaede right now..."

Well that did it, I grabbed Rin by the collar of his shirt, then I threw the biggest punch I had ever thrown at his face. He fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

"She doesn't deserve you! You're nothing but a..."

Rin never finished what he was saying, cause I kicked him in the stomach!

"Deep down you know she still wants me and not you," he snickered as he got to his feet, "she always wanted me, you are nothing to her. I want her back!"

"You can't have her you fucking bastard!" I snapped and punched him in the face. I punched him in the stomach again, then I kung-fu kicked his sorry ass till he slammed into the wall.

"You listen to me now you asshole!" I snapped, "you will never have Kaede, Sia or Nerine..."

"I want all three..."

"Shut the fuck up!" I snapped and punched him in the face again. "Things have changed since you dumped all three of them. Sia's found her true love and that's Dave, Nerine's is Daryl and as for Kaede, she is my wife. She only likes you as a friend, _I_ am the boy she loves!"

Rin looked like he wasn't paying attention, "Pay attention you fucking asshole! I will never allow you to take my wife, I will break every bone in your body before I let that happen! Dave and Daryl will do the same, so do us all a favor and stay away from Sia, Nerine and Kaede!"

"Whatever," he sniffed.

I punched him one time, then I walked over to the door, "Fine Rin, go ahead and screw up your life. Just know you'll make Asa one unhappy girl! Oh and like I said before, if I catch you near my wife again, I will send you on one way trip to the hospital! So stay away from her you fucking asshole!" I grabbed the doorknob, slammed the door shut and walked sternly out of the apartment.

Since I was still angry, I headed off to the harbor to calm down for a bit. I picked an abandoned area and parked my truck there, then I stayed there. Since that day I had yelled at Kaede, every time I feel like I'm going to blow my temper off, I go somewhere else to calm down cause the last thing I want to do is to yell at Kaede for something she didn't do.

"I can't believe that damn Rin Tsuchimi, first he tries to touch my wife and then says he doesn't want Asa anymore," I shook my head in disgust.

I reached down and pulled out my cellphone, then I sent a text message to Kaede, telling her I was going to be a little late getting home. Then I phoned Dave and Daryl, "hey Dave, is Daryl there with you?" I asked.

"He sure is, what's going on Matthew?"

"I need to tell you two something important," and so I told them everything that happened, and yes they were surprised I said so many swear words, "so if you ever see Rin near Sia or Nerine – don't be afraid to punch the crap out of him."

"Alright Matthew, thanks for the warning," said Dave.

"No problem, I'll talk to you two later."

I hung up my phone and placed it back in the truck on the passenger seat. I looked back out to the ocean, watching as the sun setted for the day.

"Kaede was right," I thought to myself, "sunsets are beautiful."

The sun was still setting as I finally headed off for home, I was feeling a little more calm now than I was before. Sure I was still mad at Rin, but I didn't want to make Kaede worry.

"Kaede, I'm home!" I called when I stepped in.

"I'm in the kitchen Matthew!" she called back to me. I walked into the kitchen, Kaede was sitting at the table, "I saved your dinner for you."

"Thanks Kaede and I'm sorry it took me so long to get home, it's just that Rin really ticked off - and before you ask, yes I did say that word again. Five times, to be precise. That's a new record for me now."

There was no laughing this time, "he's lost it this time," I continued, "he really doesn't want Asa anymore, he said he wanted things to be the way they were before he and Asa became a couple."

"Back when Sia, Rina and I were trying to fall in love with him."

"Correct Kaede - but I told him that's not going to happen, actually I kinda _shouted_ it at him. I'll never let him have you and I know Dave and Daryl won't allow Rin to have Sia and Nerine either."

Kaede got up from the chair and walked over towards me, then she gave me a hug, "I love you Matthew," she said, sounding like she was going to cry.

I rubbed her back gently and whispered to her, "I love you too Kaede."

"I did have feelings for Rin once, but now all my feelings are for you."

"I know Kaede, I know," I whispered kindly to her, I then gave her a kiss her forehead, "and you know all my feelings are for you." We stood there in silence for a couple of minutes, just hugging each other until I broke the silence by asking, "so what was it you wanted to tell me?"

"Well..." she looked up to me, "just after you left this morning, I threw up."

"You threw up? Are you okay?"

"Yes I'm okay. I don't have a fever..." my eyes widened when she said that, "I took that pregnancy test this morning, it showed two lines, then I went to see the doctor and he confirmed that the test was telling the truth."

Kaede walked over to the counter and grabbed the box, then she handed it to me. I gasped as I read what it said, then I looked back over to Kaede.

"Matthew...I'm pregnant!" she said to me. I gasped at that moment, I leaned back against the counter and looked down to the floor, "what's wrong Matthew? I thought you would be happy."

"Are you serious Kaede? Are you really pregnant?"

"Yes," she nodded, "Are you happy to hear that?"

"Of course I'm happy to hear that!" I cried and ran up to her. I gave her a big hug, she smiled and hugged me back. There are no words that can describe how happy I was to hear that.

"We're going to be parents," Kaede said happily.

"Yeah, we're going to be parents," I smiled. My lips came closer to her lips till they connected as we kissed.


	26. Rock the Party!

Quite a surprise in the last chapter huh? In this chapter, we get to see Mayumi and Itsuki's wedding, but before that though - there's still the small matter of will Rin dump Asa? This chapter is still rated M as always and now my friends, here's the twenty sixth episode of Our Kinda Life. Also note that the title of this chapter was inspired by the song 'Rock the Party' by 'Five'.

Now like I said in the last chapter, Rin will return to his normal personality in this chapter. Anyways, here's the 26th chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 26: Rock the Party!**_

A little later that evening, I was online talking to my friends on the Sodor Island Forums, I had told them everything about Rin, they too were in complete shock.

"That doesn't sound like Rin," said Anime Boy's message, "are you sure it was Rin who was trying to do what he did and not one of Kaede's old fan-club members? You know how those guys are."

"Yes I do know that, but it wasn't them - it was Rin, I saw him trying to touch my wife in a dirty way. Well I sure gave him a lesson he wasn't going to forget. Getting onto a different subject here, you guys probably will not believe me, but I have to tell you...Kaede is pregnant!"

"Kaede is pregnant?" Danparker's message showed, "did you type the wrong name Matthew? Maybe you meant to say Asa - we already knew that though."

"I did not type in the wrong name, I'm telling you guys the truth - Kaede really is pregnant!"

"She's pregnant?" Sierracat27's message showed, "Well congratulations Matthew, you're going to be a father, how does it feel?"

"It feels wonderful - there are no words that can describe how happy I am," I replied back.

After talking with my friends and after telling everyone on the Sodor Island Forums that Kaede is pregnant (I wrote it in the General Chatter Thread), I logged off and shut down my computer, then I layed down on my bed, still smiling.

I was just turning on the TV when Kaede came into the room, I gasped, "Kaede, where's your towel?"

Kaede had been taking a bath and surprising enough, she came back into our room with no clothes on, "I guess I forgot it," she giggled, "I just wanted to be with you Matthew."

She walked over to the bed, "I think you also forgot to dry yourself off Kaede," her hair was still wet and so was she. She just smiled at me, (I knew why she didn't dry herself off). She was just sitting down on the bed, "ah come here you," I chuckled as I wrapped my arms around her from behind and pulled her towards me. Kaede giggled as I grabbed one of our blankets, then I covered her with it.

She folded in her legs just as I started to dry her hair with the blanket.

"You're really happy aren't you Matthew?"

"Well of course I am," I smiled. Our lips met once again as we kissed for another two minutes, "hey Kaede," I said after our kiss, "tomorrow night, is it okay if I treat you out to dinner?"

"Of course it is Matthew. Where were you thinking of taking me?"

"It's your choice my love."

"Well, how about Boston Pizza, it is our favourite resturant after all."

"Okay then, Boston Pizza it is."

"And Matthew...is it okay if we just sit here like this for a while?" she looked over to me with that all so sweet smile. I nodded my head while still smiling. With that confirmed, Kaede sat there in front of me, completely undressed with only that orange blanket covering her, still smiling throughout that time.

We sat there for thirty minutes watching 'Kanon (2006)' on the anime network. Once the episode was done, I got up from the bed and turned off the lights. I walked back over to the bed, crawled in, then I gave Kaede another kiss before she could lay down.

Our kiss lasted for a minute and a half. Even in the dark, Kaede could see that I was still smiling and I could see that cute wonderful smile on her face. Finally I layed back down, then she layed down on top of me, still undressed. We weren't tired yet though, so we listened to some music on my Ipod. We listened to songs like 'Yours to Hold' by 'Skillet', 'Awake in a Dream' by 'Kalan Porter' and 'Fast Cars and Freedom' by 'Rascal Flatts'.

After that, we closed our eyes and went off to sleep.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early when we heard my darn old alarm clock going off. This morning though, the sound of the alarm clock didn't seem so annoying. I was the one who shut it off this time, then I stared into the beautiful blue eyes of Kaede, my wife.

"Good morning Matthew," she said sweetly.

"Good morning Kaede," I smiled to her.

Kaede moved up a bit and kissed me on the lips for two and a half minutes. After our kiss, she got from the bed and wrapped the orange blanket around herself, "I'm going to take a bath okay Matthew?"

"Sure Kaede," I smiled while I nodded my head, "I love you."

"And I love you too."

She winked at me, then she walked out of the room and towards the washroom. While she was taking her bath, I was thinking back to yesterday's event - would that jerk Rin really dump Asa?

"He may not be the smartest guy I've ever met, but not even he would do something that stupid - or would he?" I thought to myself.

"Hey Big Bro!" called another voice, I looked to my left and noticed that Naomi was standing next to my bed, "I was just walking over to your room and I saw Kaede coming out with only a blanket on."

"Kaede's gone to take a bath," I simply replied.

"Yes I know that, but I want to know...was she sleeping naked in here?" she asked in a curious way.

"It's none of your business you little smart attic," another voice said. Naomi then felt someone pull back on her sweater, it was Daisy of course, "now leave Matt and Kaede alone."

Naomi grumbled and grunted as Daisy had to literally drag her out of the bedroom.

"Same old Little Sis," I chuckled quietly to myself.

Kaede came back into the bedroom about seven minutes later, she had a towel wrapped herself and one on the top of her head. She was all smiles as she picked out the clothes she wanted to wear today. I smiled happily back at her, but I was still thinking about Rin and Asa...

So before I went to work, I headed over to Rin's apartment to have a little talk with him. I knew his door wasn't locked, so I opened the door and walked in - there was a huge hole in the wall, no doubt that was my handywork. Rin was sitting on the couch, just watching the TV - he had a few bruises here and there.

"You should really think about locking your door," I said to him.

"What are you doing here Matthew?" he asked, "have you come to kick my ass again?"

"Not this time Rin, I want to talk to you. I want to ask you, you're not really planning on dumping Asa are you?"

"No I'm not," he groaned as he got up from the couch and walked over to the window ledge, "I don't want to dump Asa - she means the world to me, she's always been everything to me."

"Well I'm glad to hear that you're finally making sense," I said with a small smile, "so why did you say that you wanted Kaede, Sia and Nerine?"

"I was just being stupid yesterday," he groaned as he sat down on the window ledge, "I know they are happy with the boys they are with and I'm happy for them."

"What made you change your mind this time?" I asked.

"The huge beating I got from you yesterday, it was worst than the punch I got from you last year."

"True, plus I didn't say that word five times in front of you last year," I said.

Rin looked out the window and sighed unhappily, "I was unhappy because we had to grow up so fast. It seems like only yesterday I was hanging out with all of them and we were all happy, then the next - I don't get to see them as often."

"So _that's _what this has been about huh?"

"Too true Matthew," he sighed again, "whenever I had a bad day, I would talk to them and they would help to cheer me up in their own special ways. I miss all that."

I walked over to the window and leaned back aganist the wall, "you're not alone there Rin, lots of people wish they didn't have to grow up so fast, even me believe it or not," I sighed as I thought back to a few days when I was a kid, the good times, "still though, as we get older - we learn more than we ever knew before and we become a little wiser, plus we see things differently than we did as kids. We also learn that things change and sure sometimes they will hurt you, but in the long run it might be good for you as you set out to live your life to the fullest."

"That's true," Rin said quietly, "Matthew, I'm really sorry for the way I acted yesterday..."

"Nah that's okay Rin, I'm the one who should be saying sorry for smacking the crap out of you and for swearing."

"You don't have to say sorry," he sighed, "once again you made see that I was being a complete jackass again - especially in front of Kaede, gosh I am such a baka! Do you think she'll ever forgive me?"

"I'm sure she will," I nodded, "just like a certain green haired girl who's been listening behind the door."

Right on cue, the door opened and there was Asa, she had tears in her eyes, "Rin," she said sadly, "why?"

"I guess she heard everything," Rin said to me.

"Yes she did, she's been listening to our entire conversation. Just tell her the truth, it may hurt - but the truth is better than a harmful lie," I said wisely to him.

Rin nodded, got up from the window ledge and walked over to Asa, then he told her everything from the day before. She was in shock, until he told her about the conversation we just had (it's actually hard to hear everyone behind a closed door). "I have been a huge baka Asa and I'm sorry, if you can ever forgive me - I'll do anything for you."

"Anything huh?" she asked, but not in her usual way.

"Yes, anything."

"Then...how about a hug? Can you give me a hug?" she asked. Rin nodded his head and walked up to Asa, giving her a gentle hug, "and promise me you won't do something like this again."

"I promise," he said kindly, "I love you Asa. I don't know what I would do without you."

"I don't know what I would do without you Rin, I love you too."

I stood near the window in complete silence, I was still smiling though, sometimes in situations like this, the girl won't forgive the boy and will leave him. Lucky for Rin though, Asa was forgiving him for what he did. After their hug, Asa walked over to me, "did you really say that word five times yesterday?" she asked me, sounding surprised. I nodded my head, "wow!"

"Yeah I know it's a huge record, not that I'm proud of it" I said before checking my watch, "well I better get going, otherwise I'll be late for work. I'll see you guys later. Oh and Rin," I said while looking over to him, "I forgive you this time, but if you ever try that again then...well you know."

"Yes I know and don't worry Matthew, I won't try that again, I promise."

"Good," I said as I walked out. Just before I stepped out though, I saw Asa and Rin kiss on the lips. I smiled at this sight, then I left for work.

That night as Kaede and I were going out to dinner, I told her everything about the earlier conversation with Rin, "so it looks like Rin and Asa's wedding is back on," I was saying to her.

"Yeah," Kaede nodded happily, "at least he told her the truth...this time."

"He's not really that good at telling the truth is he?"

"Afraid not," she said while shaking her head, remembering a few times Rin lied. "Next time I see Rin, I will tell him that I have forgiven him."

"That's good. Still though, I hope he doesn't try that stunt again - not unless he wants a one way trip to the hospital," I said firmly but not angerily. "You know I will always protect you Kaede, I won't let anyone hurt you."

"I know that Matthew," she said as she rested her head on my shoulder, "I love you."

"And I love you too."

She rested her head comfortably on my right shoulder until we arrived at the megamall.

The next day was July 1st, I went to work as usual, then I went back to the house to pick up Kaede, Primula, Naomi and Daisy. Then (once I was in my suit and they were in their dresses), we headed off to the church.

Once we were there, I went off to find Itsuki (just as a reminder, I am his best man).

"How are you feeling right now Itsuki?" I asked, "Are you feeling excited?"

"Yes I am feeling excited," he said as he was putting on his tie, "in a short while, Mayumi and I are going to be married. There are..."

"No words that can describe how happy you are right now, am I right?" I asked, he nodded in surprise, "and before you ask 'how did I know that?', I just knew. Oh hey Itsuki, I've been meaning to ask you - what is your last name? I never heard you say it before."

"My last name is Midoriba," he answered, "I thought I told you my last name."

"No you never did."

"Hmm...I guess I forgot," he said quietly as he looked at himself in the mirror, "you know, there were those who said I would never find true love because of the way I acted - I guess I'm going to prove them wrong today huh?"

"You sure are."

"It'll be great to go back to that new apartment and spend my life with my childhood friend."

I gasped when I heard Itsuki say that, "I didn't know you and Mayumi were childhood friends," I said, "I always thought you two met up in high school."

"No, we've known each other for quite a long time. I wonder if she remembers when we first met. I think back then I was a lot nicer than I was in high school."

"Why not ask her at the party later?" I suggested.

"I will."

Just before the wedding was to offically begin, I met up with Kaede just outside the bride's room, "how is Mayumi?" I asked.

"She's really excited," Kaede answered, "she's looking forward to getting married to Itsuki. She also said that she's known Itsuki for a long time, ever since they were kids."

"Yeah Itsuki said the same thing to me, he was even wondering if she remembered the day they first met."

"I do remember that day," I heard Mayumi call out, "I was lost in a grogery store and that's when I met him, he helped to calm me down, then he helped me find my parents. From that day onwards, we became good friends and we stayed as good friends, even when he started liking a jerk in junior high."

The door opened at that moment, Kaede and I gasped as we saw Mayumi in that beautiful white dress, "what do you two think? Do I look beautiful in this dress?"

"Of course you do," Kaede and I answered in unison.

"Thank you," she said while blushing, "well, I'm ready to get married."

Within minutes, the wedding had offically begun. Cineraria was playing the music for the wedding, the minister was standing at the front of the church along with Itsuki. Then - Mayumi came walking in with the vale covering her face.

Once she was at the front of the church with Itsuki and the minister, the wedding offically began.

After an hour, the minister asked, "do you Itsuki Midoriba take Mayumi Thyme to be your wife?"

"I do," Itsuki answered with a nod.

"And do you Mayumi Thyme take Itsuki Midoriba to be your husband?"

Mayumi looked up to Itsuki and smiled, then she said, "I do."

"I now pronouce you both, husband and wife, you may now kiss the bride," said the minister. Itsuki lifted the vale, then he kissed Mayumi on the lips, everyone in the church clapped and cheered as the happy couple walked out of the church and to the party, which was going to be in a tent outside of the church. Before that though, Mayumi tossed the flowers into the air - and would you believe that Sakura was the one who caught them?

"May we have your attention please?" Itsuki called out, everyone went silent, "Mayumi and I would like to thank all of you for coming to our wedding and we would like to say that you guys are the best friends we could ever ask for."

He looked back to Mayumi, she was crying.

"What's wrong honey?" he asked kindly.

Mayumi looked at him surprised that he called her 'honey', but she did answer his question, "nothing's wrong Itsuki...it's just - I always thought I would never get married because of who I am and what I look like..." she was about ready to cry.

"I know," Itsuki said soothily, "lots of people often said I would never get married, but tonight we proved them wrong right?"

"Yeah we did, thank you so much Itsuki."

"To Mayumi and Itsuki!" someone shouted out loud and a huge round of appluse was started, I think it was Nerine who shouted that.

"You're welcome Mayumi my love," he said kindly and kissed her on the lips. After their kiss, he asked, "do you remember the first time we met?"

"You mean in the grogery store right? I remember that day well, you were so kind to me that day and you helped me find my parents, it's what started our friendship."

"That's quite true...Mayumi, when I first saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful girl I have ever seen..."

"He wasn't thinking like that in high school," Naomi giggled, but didn't get another word out as Daisy slapped her hand over Naomi's mouth and muttered 'Shut up' to her.

"Even during high school,"Itsuki continued, "I always thought you were a very beautiful girl." Mayumi blushed when she heard this, "I'm so sorry if I hurt your feelings during that time."

"It's okay Itsuki, that's all in the past," she said kindly, "I'm just so happy to be with you...and I promise you to be the best wife you could ever ask for."

"Oh Mayumi," he said as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Way to go buddy," Rin said quietly.

I heard him though, "hey Rin are you reading my mind or something? That's what I was going to say!" Rin chuckled quietly.

"So are you excited? Starting tonight we're going to be living together in our own place."

"Of course I'm excited, I'm looking forward to living my life every day with you."

That made Itsuki blush, but he was still smiling. Then he spoke to the guests, "once again, we would like to thank all of you for coming and for making this one of the best days of our lives."

Mayumi happily agreed to that.

"Well said Itsuki," I smiled, "I'm so proud of you two."

"And so am I," Kaede smiled, "and we would like to say 'Congratulations' and good luck with your marriage."

"Thank you so much," Itsuki and Mayumi said in unison.

"You two really are a wonderful couple," I said kindly. I grabbed my glass before looking back over to the guests, "ladies and gentlemen," I said while raising my glass, "to Itsuki and Mayumi!"

"To Itsuki and Mayumi!" Everyone cried as they held out their glasses to them.

"You two have come a long since I first met you, again I'm happy for the two of you. And now if it's okay with you two," I added, "Kaede and I would like to say something."

"Go right ahead my friend," Itsuki said with a smile.

Naomi was going to say something, but didn't as Lance covered her mouth this time, "oh come on," she mumbled.

Kaede and I got up from our seats, I nodded to her, then she looked out to the guests. "Matthew and I," she started, she felt a little nervous, I rubbed her hand softly with my thumb.

"It's okay honey, you can do it," I whispered kindly to her.

She nodded, turned back to the crowd and said, "Matthew and I are going to become parents...I'm pregnant!"

"You're pregnant?" everyone shouted all at once.

"Yes," she nodded, "I'm pregnant."

Itsuki and Mayumi walked over towards us with happy looks on their faces, "Congratulations bud," Itsuki said to me.

"And congratulations to you too Kaede," Mayumi said happily.

"Thank you," Kaede and I said in unison.

Mostly everyone was happy by this news, Naomi was in complete shock though - for once she was at a loss of words. After a few minutes, the party offically begun.

There was a huge variety of songs that played that night. Then just before the party was over, Michael, Ryan, Patrick and I stepped on the stage. Dave, Daryl and Lisa were already up there, ready to play the instruments. This would be the first time in years that the five of us would perform a song together.

"Alright guys, are you ready?" Michael called into the microphone.

"We're ready!" everyone cried.

"In that case, let's Rock the Party!"

_My time to burn so sit back and check_

_ the way I come through in the discotheque_

_ I know the you like what I got, my style,_

_ the original seventies dance floor hot new material._

_ Name ain't down then you ain't coming in._

_ Guest list on the door, you plus two friends,_

_ just as long as they female and got a fit ass,_

_ pole position never comin' in last._

_ Bass line, Yeah you know it's gonna get ya._

_ Free your mind if the system will let ya._

_ Peace time so it's time to shout._

_ Guys in the back throw your hands about._

_ Rock the Party_

_ We can go through the night._

_ If you're living it up we're gonna let ya._

_ If You're giving it up we're gonna get ya._

_ Rock the party._

_ If you're feeling all right._

_ When you're having a good time together_

_ and a Saturday night lasts forever._

_ Yo can't hold me back, I rock the dance floor._

_ Make a honey shake her booty so I kick it some more._

_ You know the score how they rock a freaky move up on the spot_

_ never wanna stop, temperature is hot_

_ Now visual contact I got all that_

_ make 'em boggy for me when I verbally freak that._

_ Line after line, keep on hitting with my rhyme._

_ Now what you gotta do is bring your body next to mine._

_ Check it Out._

_ Bass line, Yeah you know it's gonna get ya._

_ Free your mind if the system will let ya._

_ Peace time so it's time to shout._

_ Guys in the back throw your hands about._

_ Rock the Party_

_ We can go through the night._

_ If you're living it up we're gonna let ya._

_ If You're giving it up we're gonna get ya_

_ Rock the party._

_ If you're feeling all right._

_ When you're having a good time together_

_ and a Saturday night lasts forever._

_ Bass line is gonna get ya._

_ On a Saturday night we're coming at ya._

_ Bass line, Yeah you know it's gonna get ya._

_ Free your mind if the system will let ya._

_ Peace time so it's time to shout._

_ Guys in the back throw your hands about._

_ Rock the Party_

_ We can go through the night._

_ If you're living it up we're gonna let ya._

_ If You're giving it up we're gonna get ya._

_ Rock the party._

_ If you're feeling all right._

_ When you're having a good time together_

_ and a Saturday night lasts forever._

_ Rock the Party_

_ We can go through the night._

_ If you're living it up we're gonna let ya._

_ If You're giving it up we're gonna get ya._

_ Rock the party._

_ If you're feeling all right._

_ When you're having a good time together_

_ and a Saturday night lasts forever._

This is one night I'm sure our friends and family will never forget, Itsuki and Mayumi especially.

After the party, Kaede and I stayed to help clean up. Once that was done, she turned on the radio, "care to dance Matthew?" she asked me kindly while holding out her hand.

"You don't need to ask Kaede, I would love to dance with you."

The song that was playing was 'For You' by 'The Calling', the very song Kaede and I first danced to on the night I first moved in with her.

"You are a wonderful dancer Kaede," I said kindly.

"Thank you Matthew, you're a wonderful dancer too."

When the song ended, Kaede stood up on her toes and kissed me on the lips for three minutes. After our kiss, we got into the truck and drove off happily back to the house, not once did our smiles ever go away - we were happy beyond words, we are happily married and we're going to become parents. Like I said before, there are no words that can describe how happy Kaede and I are - life is so sweet!


	27. Anniversary

Well my friends, it's time now for the 27th chapter of Our Kinda Life and the beginning of the second season. We now skip from July to September 2011 - which means that Kaede is three months pregnant while Asa is four months pregnant. This episode idea I came up with just as I was finishing up episode 26 of this series. This episode's date starts on Monday September 26th 2011. Now remember, the rating is still the same as there is some swearing and 'cute' moments as you will see later on.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 27: Anniversary**_

After another long day of work on the set of 'Tech Corner', I drove back to the house to pick up Kaede. Reason was because we were going to a class that taught couples all about 'child birth'. We were early, so we waited out in the lobby for the teacher to show up.

Kaede looked up to me, "are you feeling tired Matthew?" she asked me.

"Just a little," I answered, "Al and I were doing lots of demostrations today, I didn't think it was possible but I think we're starting to beat our old record of the number of demostrations we've been doing" I looked down to my wife with a smile on my face, "I'm feeling okay though."

Kaede smiled at me, then she grabbed my left hand and rubbed a small portion of skin with her thumb, "I'm happy to hear that. Just promise me you won't stress yourself out and over do it."

"I promise. You have my word, I won't over do it and stress myself out."

"Okay," she smiled.

I pulled out my Ipod, then for the next five minutes, we listened to some of the songs I had on there. One of which is called 'Must Be Doing Somethin' Right' by 'Billy Currington'.

A few minutes later, Asa and Rin came into the building, Rin was grumbling.

"Why do we have to come here again?" he groaned.

"It's important Rin," Asa said firmly, "we have to know what to do - or have you have you forgotten that I am four months pregnant?"

"I haven't forgotten," he groaned, "I can never forget because you keep on reminding me about it!"

"Oh quit your whining Rin!" I called, both he and Asa looked over to us, "you should be happy. After all, you two are married now and you're going to become parents."

"I am happy," he said quietly, then he went quiet. Ever since that day where I pounded the crap out of him and swore in his face, he's been very careful of what he says and does. I guess now he knows that my bark isn't as bad as my bite.

"You'll have to forgive Rin," Asa said to us, "he's been having a little bit of trouble sleeping at night, plus he wears himself out at work."

"Hmm, I know that feeling," I said quietly, remembering back to when I had my part time job back in Canada long before I was fired.

We waited in that lobby for about ten more minutes either listening to music on our Ipods or talking. As we waited, a few more couples came in. After a few more minutes, we were finally allowed in when the teacher came.

At around eight that evening, Kaede was taking a bath while I went out for a small drive and to pick up a few things. Tomorrow marks the first year anniversary since Kaede and I got married and I wanted to make tomorrow very special.

"I only wish I didn't have to work tomorrow," I sighed unhappily to myself as I pulled up outside of a flower shop, "then I could spend the entire day with my beautiful wife." I looked around the flower shop for a bit until I found a huge batch of roses, (they happen to be Kaede's favourite flowers). I picked up the batch of roses, then I took them over to the counter.

"Will that be everything?" the person behind the counter asked.

"Yes it is," I smiled.

"Alright then. I hope you don't mind if I ask this, but are you going to give these roses to someone special?"

"I sure am, I'm giving them to my wife. Tomorrow's our first year anniversary since we got married."

"Oh how sweet," the person behind the counter smiled as she wrapped them up in a package.

Once I had payed for the flowers, I drove off back to the house. "I know Kaede is going to be surprised when she sees these roses," I thought happily to myself, "but how am I going to keep these hidden from her till tomorrow?"

I was still thinking that as I walked up the pathway. "Hey Matt," I heard a young voice call to me. It was Daisy, she was waiting by the door, "did you get the flowers?"

"I sure did, now I just need to hide them from Kaede till tomorrow."

"Don't worry about that, I'll keep them in my room for the night."

"Thanks Daisy," I smiled as I handed her the flowers, "I know I can always count on you." I looked inside and noticed Monty walking out of the kitchen, "let me guess, Monty is sleeping over again tonight am I right?"

"He sure is," Daisy smiled, "we both asked Kaede if it was okay and she said it was okay. It is okay isn't it Matt?"

"Of course it is," I said, "it's okay for you to sleep together. I mean Kaede and I slept together all the time before we got married."

Daisy nodded happily, "thanks Matt, you're the best big brother, and don't worry about the flowers, we will keep them hidden from Kaede till tomorrow. Hey Monty wait up!" she called and ran after her boyfriend, who was already on his way up the stairs.

Daisy followed Monty up the stairs to her room, making sure that Kaede didn't see them with the flowers. Kaede came out of our room just as Daisy and Monty walked into the bedroom.

"Where did you go Matthew?" Kaede asked me kindly.

"Ah nowhere in particular, I was just driving around," I answered, "why do you ask?"

"I'm just being curious," she said with a smile on her face.

"Alright," I smiled as I walked up to her and gave her our usual nightly hug.

After our hug, I went onto the Sodor Island Forums and talked with my friends again, then after logging off and shutting down my computer, Kaede and I got into bed and went happily to sleep.

"Hey Kaede," I said to her the next morning, "why don't I make the bed today okay?"

"Ah - sure Matthew," she smiled as she walked out of the bedroom. She stopped in the doorway, "I'll see you in a few minutes," she winked at me as she walked out of our room and over to the stairwell.

"Yep, she knows what today is," I thought to myself.

Once the bed had been made, I walked over to Daisy's room. Her door was closed, so I knocked several times, "who is it?" she called.

"It's me Daisy!"

"Just give me one second Matt!" she called, "I'm just getting into my uniform." After a few seconds, she opened the door, "do you want those..." she looked down the hallway.

"Yes I would like the flowers," I nodded, "Kaede is in the kitchen right now," then I asked, "where's Monty?"

"Need you ask?" a young voice called from behind me. I jumped in surprise, "sorry Matthew, I didn't mean to spook you."

"Nah that's alright," I groaned quietly, "I'm pretty much getting used to it."

"Monty was just getting changed in the washroom," said Daisy, "anyways, your flowers are sitting in that vase on my table. I'll get them for you," she walked back into her room - a few seconds later, she came back with the flowers.

"Thanks Daisy," I said as she gave them to me.

"No problem - oh and before I forgot, they are a little wet, we had filled up the vase with water last night."

"Thanks again Daisy," I smiled as I walked back over to the bedroom. I placed some flowers on the bed and on our pillows too.

When I was done there, I walked down the stairs and out to my truck, cause that's where I had hidden a box of chocolates. I walked back into the house, making sure Kaede didn't see me with that box - luckily for me, she was upstairs, thinking I was still up there.

"Now is my chance," I thought.

I walked into the kitchen, then I placed the box of chocolates near the sink. I covered the box with a clothe so that Kaede would be surprised. As an extra bonus surprise, I placed a rose on top of it.

"Matthew?" I heard her call for me.

"I'm in the kitchen Kaede!" I called back.

She came walking in with a few flowers in her hands, "I found these on the bed, they are wonderful - thank you so much."

"You're welcome honey," I smiled.

We both walked over to the table, being a gentleman I held out her chair and pushed it in softly as she sat down. Our sisters and Monty came into the kitchen a few minutes after we sat down. After we were done eating our breakfast, Kaede and I took the dishes over to the sink together. As we got to the counter, Kaede spotted the rose.

"Another rose?" Kaede said as she looked over to the sink.

"Yep, and that's not all."

Kaede picked up the rose, then she removed the clothe - she gasped again, "chocolates?"

"Yep, I got them just for you my sweet wife."

"Thank you Matthew."

"Aren't just a sweetheart today?" called Naomi, she was joking around. She burst out laughing, but stopped when she saw Daisy, Monty and Primula looking at her with serious looks on their faces - she went quiet at once.

Max arrived at around the same time Kaede and I had finished washing the dishes.

"We'll see you later!" our sisters and the twins said together.

"Have a good day you five," Kaede said kindly.

"We will," Primula called back.

I snuck away for a minute, reason was because (yep, you guessed it), I was going to place some more roses in the living room. I placed some on the table and a couple on the couch. When I was done there, I went to rejoin Kaede at the doorway.

"Have a good day at work Matthew."

"I will, oh and Kaede," I whispered this part into her right ear, "happy anniversary."

She blushed bright red when she heard that, "happy anniversary Matthew."

She handed me my lunch, then she stood up on her toes as we kissed on the lips for a minute. After the kiss, I walked off to my truck, Kaede stood in the doorway waving to me until I was out of sight.

When I arrived on the set, I heard someone shout out, "hey Matthew, we're over here!" I looked to the stands and saw Asa and Rin there. Asa was smiling, Rin - he was fast asleep.

"Hey you two," I smiled, "tried Rin?"

"He didn't sleep that well last night...again," Asa answered, "that's why he's sleeping..." she looked over to her husband, "Rin, wake up!"

"What the he...I'm up!" he cried, quickly correcting himself before he swore.

"Good morning sleepy head," I chuckled.

Just to let you know, ever since Rin and Asa got married, Rin has been living with Asa and Ms. Ama at the Shigure house. When he was ready to move out from that old apartment of his, Asa, Kaede and I helped him move his stuff - we moved everything in just one trip (yeah he doesn't have that much).

"Hi Matthew," Rin groaned.

"Have a bad dream last night?"

"Yeah, and then I rolled out of the bed and fell onto the floor. The first time, Asa didn't wake up - she woke up the second time though."

"Excatly how times did you fall out of the bed?"

"About six or seven times last night," he groaned before he nodded off to sleep again. Asa elbowed him again, he woke in an instant, "once we go home, I'm going to take a nap."

"Good suggestion...but aren't you suppose to be at work?"

"No, today is my day off."

"I told him to call his boss and tell him that he was going to take the day off," said Asa, "he deserves it considering that he's been working really hard lately - plus he needs some rest."

"Good decision there..." I paused as I heard Al call out to me, "well I better get over there and help get ready for the show. I hope you two will enjoy the show."

"We always do," smiled Asa, "Right Rin?" She looked back to her husband, who had fallen fast asleep again, "see what I mean?"

"Yeah I do indeed. Anyways, I'll talk to you two later."

I walked past the set and to the backstage area to get some of the props needed today, that's when I heard my cellphone ring. I checked to see who it was, it was Kaede sending me a text message, it read 'thank you again for the roses Matthew, I found the ones you placed in the living room, they are so beautiful. Love Kaede'.

I replied back, 'You're very welcome Kaede, Love Matthew'. I enclosed the message with a smiling face.

"Ready Matthew?" called Al, "we're due on in a minute!"

"Sure Al, just give me a second to get these props out" I called as I shut off my phone and walked onto the set with the props.

After the show was done for the day, I drove off back to the house. As I pulled up outside of the house, I saw Kaede standing out there, "hi Matthew," she called to me, "did you have a good day at work?"

"I did, but I missed you."

"And I missed you too."

She walked up to me and gave me a hug, I wrapped my arms around her as we hugged. We hugged for about two minutes, that's when we heard..."get a room you two!" As you can guess, that came from our little smart-attic sister Naomi.

"Leave them alone Naomi," Lance said firmly, he was hanging out with her and Shiori, "so sorry about that you guys."

"It's alright Lance," I said, "we're getting used to that."

"Even so..." he said as he looked over to Naomi with a firm look on his face.

"Okay, I'm sorry for distrubing you two and I'm sorry for saying that," she said.

"It's okay Naomi," Kaede said kindly, "there's no need to say sorry, we know you're just joking around."

"Too true," I nodded in agreement, "even though half the time you do go too far with your jokes."

"I do not!" Naomi said in protest. She was going to say something else, but didn't as Lance dragged her back to the Living room.

"Same old Naomi," Kaede and I chuckled in unison before we followed them inside. Since Naomi, Lance and Shiori were in the living room working on their homework, Kaede and I went upstairs just to relax on our bed and watch some of our favourite anime shows until around dinnertime.

Once again, Kaede cooked up a wonderful and delicous dinner, we all made sure to tell her that. After we were done eating, I helped Kaede wash all the dishes.

"Hey Kaede, after we're done here, I need to ask you to put on your shoes and put on a blindfold."

"Why?" she asked me, sounding confused.

"You'll soon find out why," I simply replied.

So once we were done, Kaede put on her shoes, then I helped her put a blindfold over her eyes, then I lead her carefully out to the truck.

As we drove along, I had another one of my mix CDs playing, mostly playing some of our favourite love songs. Kaede only asked me once, "where are we going Matthew?"

"You'll find out soon my love," I simply replied again.

After ten minutes of driving, we finally arrived. I lead Kaede slowly away from the truck, then up a set of stairs. I unlocked a door, then I lead Kaede into a room.

"Okay Kaede, you can take your blindfold off," I said.

"Okay," she said as she took the blindfold off. She gasped at the sight before her, "this is...this is the honeymoon suite."

"It sure is, I got it just for us tonight."

It was the very same honeymoon suite that Kaede and I came to last year after our wedding, "well you said last year that you wanted to come back here right? Well, I thought why not come back here for our first year anniversary."

"It feels good to be back. Thank you for bringing me back here Matthew."

"You're welcome Kaede."

We walked over to the bed and sat down side by side, we stared into each other's eyes, then we kissed on the lips for about two minutes.

"Hey Kaede, have you been happy ever since we got married?"

"Yes, I have been happy," she answered as our foreheads pressed aganist each other, our faces were so close to each other, "and I'm still happy to be married to you."

"I'm glad to hear that, cause I'm still happy to be married to you Kaede."

"Happy Anniversary," we both said in unison, then our lips met as we kissed once again. This time, it was a three minute kiss.

"Kaede, I got another surprise for you," I said after our kiss. I got up from the bed and walked over to the television - I pulled away a clothe, revealing a DVD player, "I hope you'll like it."

I turned on the TV, then I pressed the play button on the DVD player, then I walked over to the bed and sat down next to Kaede.

Kaede gasped at the next surprise, it was a music video featuring the song 'Turn It Up (I Like the Sound of That)' by 'Aaron Lines', along with pictures and films of the two of us.

I could see tears coming down from her eyes, "Kaede, is something wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong," she said with a smile, "these are just my happy tears, I love this surprise - thank you so much Matthew, I love you."

"And I love you too."

Kaede reached out her right hand and I grabbed it softly with my left hand, then Kaede rested her head on my left shoulder while the music video played on until it was done.

"So what do you think of that video?" I asked.

"It was beautiful, thank you." She said before she kissed me on the left side of my face, making me blush bright red, she was already blushing at this time.

Kaede layed back down on the bed, then I came over towards her and we kissed on the lips again. After the kiss, Kaede and I layed down on the bed, side by side, just watching some romantic movies on the television until it was time to go to sleep.

"We forgot our pajamas," Kaede said to me.

"Oh no we didn't," I smiled, "just look over to the nightstand."

Kaede looked to see a suitcase sitting there. She walked over to it, opened it up and smiled, "I packed our pajamas and an extra set of clothes into the suitcase just before we made dinner tonight."

Kaede just smiled at me, but then that smile faded as she looked threw the suitcase, "is something wrong Kaede my love?"

"No...I was just wondering - if could we sleep...naked tonight?"

Truth be told, Kaede and I haven't slept naked together since the night she told me that she was pregnant. Still, I gave Kaede my answer, "sure Kaede, we'll sleep naked tonight."

Once we had gotten undressed, we layed down on the bed. This time, we were laying down side by side, I was on the right side of the bed while Kaede had the left side of the bed.

I could just see that smile on her face, "just being in this bed reminds me so much of our honeymoon."

"You know I was just going to say that right?" I asked.

Kaede just giggled while I chuckled. We said our good nights and 'I love you' to each other, then we closed our eyes and went to sleep. A few minutes later, I opened my eyes to see if she _was_ asleep - she wasn't, her eyes were open and she was still smiling at me. I moved over slightly towards her, I wrapped my arms around her and she did the same - then I started nibbing on some skin up to the neck, not too hard as I didn't want to mark her. She moaned a bit and even said my name.

"Don't stop Matthew," she giggled while moaning a bit.

"I won't," I replied back, I was glad to know that she was happy.

I didn't stop for another two to three minutes. After that, I got up till I was nearly face to face with Kaede, although we weren't going to be making love, I still wanted Kaede to know just how much she meant to me. She's always been the girl of my dreams ever since I met her on the chatroom in 2008, and even when I met her in person in 2009 - and to this day, she is _still_ the girl of my dreams.

I rubbed the left side of her face for a few seconds, then I moved some hair away from her forehead. I leaned in for a kiss on her forehead. I didn't need to say anything, Kaede knew just how I felt.

"I love you too Matthew," she said with a cute tone in her voice.

She closed her eyes and we kissed on the lips for the fourth time that night - I'm just so happy right now and I know Kaede is really happy too. After a minute of kissing, I layed back down on the right side of the bed, Kaede moved over a bit and rested her head on my chest, just like she did on the first night of our honeymoon, then we closed our eyes and this time, we _did_ go to sleep.

The next morning, I packed up the truck after we had gotten changed into a new set of clothes. I was wearing a dark green T-shirt with a Union Pacific Big Boy locomotive on the front of it, I was also wearing my dark blue jeans, grey socks and of course, my old almost worn out running shoes. As for Kaede, she was wearing a pink dress with the red lines on it.

Speaking of my beautiful wife, she was sitting on the bed and looking at our wedding photo.

"Okay, our suitcase is the truck, we're good to go," I said as I came back into the room, "are you ready to go Kaede?"

"Yeah I'm ready," she said, but she didn't get up. I walked over to the bed and sat down next to her, "you look so handsome in this picture."

"Thanks, and you look so beautiful - but of course you're always beautiful."

"And you're always handsome dear," she said happily. We stared at the picture for another mintue before she said, "I'm ready now. I'm ready to go home."

"Okay honey, let's go home," I smiled. I got up from the bed, then I held out my right hand to her.

"Okay," she grabbed my right hand softly with her left hand, then we headed off for the truck. Once I had dropped off the keys at the front desk, we drove off back to the house.

"Matthew - aren't you going to be late for work?"

"I'm not going into work today, I told Mr. Quinten yesterday that I wasn't going to come in today. I'm going to stay home with you today and help you with some of the housework - after all, a husband is suppose to help his wife, right?"

"Yeah and a wife is suppose to help her husband right?"

"Yeah," I placed my right hand on her right shoulder, holding her close to me, "I love you Kaede."

"And I love you too Matthew."

"And we love _you_ too," I said while looking down to Kaede's stomach. Kaede nodded her head in agreement, then she rested her head on my shoulder for the rest of the trip back to the house.


	28. Past Sisters

Here now is the next installment of the 'Our Kinda Life' series. In this episode, Erica gets some more time in the spotlight - as recalled back in the My Kinda Life series, Erica is the mysterious girl who told 'Matthew' all about Daisy's past and that she at one time was Daisy's sister, now in this episode, we will get to learn some more about her. Also note that when Daisy is telling a story about the days she was Erica's sister, it's third person narration. Before we begin, this episode's date starts on Wednesday September 28th 2011, and the rating is still the same as always as there will be some swearing included in this episode. Anyways, I hope you will enjoy this next installment of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 28: Past Sisters**_

Throughout the morning after we got home, I helped Kaede with the housework, like washing the dishes, pots and pans, then we did some laundry, made the beds and even washed the floors and tables. By around one thirty, we were finally done, so we decided to rest in the living room watching 'Reba', we haven't watched that show in a long time.

At three, our sisters came home and saw us sitting on the couch and watching Reba.

"Can I say it this time?" Naomi asked cheekily.

"No!" Daisy and Primula said firmly in unison, "Did you two have a good day today?" Daisy asked us.

"We did," Kaede answered. Just as she answered, we heard the phone ring, "I'll get it," Kaede got up from the couch and walked over to get to the phone.

"So what did you two do today?" Naomi asked curiously.

"We did some housework today," I answered, "we actually finished at around one thirty."

"Are you sure that's _all_ you did today?" Naomi asked cheekily.

Before I could reply back, Kaede came into the living room, "it's Mayumi, she's wondering if we would like to visit her and Itsuki at their apartment. Would you like to go?"

"Sure Kaede, I would like to go," I looked back to our three sisters, "would any of you like to come with us?"

"I can't," Primula answered, "I got to work on my homework, then I'm going to meet up with Max later."

"I love to go," said Naomi, "but I'm also busy with my homework, then I'm going to meet up with Lance. What about you Daisy?"

"Sorry guys, but I can't go either, I've got a lot of homework to take care of."

"Okay then," I looked back over to Kaede, "tell Mayumi that you and I will be there soon."

"Okay," she said and walked back over to the phone.

It didn't take us long to get to Itsuki and Mayumi's apartment, it's only about five minutes away from our house. Mayumi was waiting right outside the apartment for us, "hey you two!" she called, "welcome to our little home sweet home."

Mayumi says that everytime we come over - personally though, Kaede and I don't mind hearing that.

"So where's Itsuki?" I asked.

"He's inside right now - he's working underneath the sink replacing some of the old pipes." Mayumi walked into the apartment first, followed by Kaede and myself. We followed her into the kitchen area where Itsuki was, he was working underneath the sink while he had the CD player on, the song that was playing was 'When You Come Around' by 'Deric Ruttan'.

"Hey buddy, how are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm okay, but I would like some help with these pipes. Can you give me a hand Matthew?"

"Sure thing, I'd be glad to help," I said as I rolled up my sleeves, "just answer me one question - why are you guys replacing your pipes?"

"Well our inspector said that we have to replace those pipes," said Mayumi, "otherwise water is going to leak out and spill onto the floor and start pouring into our neighbour's room downstairs."

Just to let you all know, Mayumi and Itsuki live on the second floor of the apartment complex they live at. Their apartment has a small kitchen, a small living room, a couple of rooms and a washroom too, it's a nice little place and like I said before, it's bigger and better than Rin's old apartment.

"Mayumi," Kaede spoke up, "how come you and Itsuki have mats in the living room?"

"Oh ah...well that's because we...ah..." she then whispered this part, "sleep in the living room."

"It's only until we get our new Futon in a few weeks," added Itsuki, "right honey?"

"Yes Itsuki," she nodded and started to blush at the same time, "oh and before I forget, we found out that one of our neighbours happens to be Erica."

"Erica?" Kaede asked, sounding completely surprised.

"As in the same Erica that was once Daisy's sister?" I asked, Mayumi nodded her head, "I wonder why Daisy never told us that Erica lived so close to you guys."

"Maybe it's because she doesn't know we live so close to Erica's apartment," said Itsuki.

"Hmm, yeah maybe, that is a good possibility." I said as both Itsuki and I went to work installing the new pipes while Mayumi and Kaede went over to the living room to talk for a bit.

"So Itsuki, how is it living with the girl you love?"

"Oh it's just wonderful Matthew. I just love waking up in the mornings and seeing her right beside me, I also love going out with her, either doing some shopping or just going out for a little walk," he sighed happily, "I love living with the girl I love."

"That's good to hear," I smiled, "I think Rin could take a few lessons from us," I added as a chuckle.

"Yeah he probably could," he chuckled.

At last we had the new pipes installed, then we went to join our wives for a little talk. At around six, Itsuki offered to cook up dinner, "you don't mind if I cook for you tonight do you?" Itsuki asked Mayumi.

"I don't mind, I think it's sweet," she said before she kissed Itsuki on the right side of his face.

Kaede and I just looked at each other and smiled, they were acting just like us, "very well then, you three just relax and talk, I'll be in the kitchen if you need me," he said, then he walked over to the kitchen. In about thirty minutes, Itsuki came back with dinner, "enjoy," he said.

Kaede and I took the first bites, "it's delicous Itsuki," said Kaede, then she asked, "who taught you how to cook?"

"Mayumi taught me," he answered as he looked over to his wife.

"It really is delicous Itsuki, all those cooking lessons are really paying off - I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you honey."

After dinner, Kaede and I helped clean up the dishes, then after talking with Mayumi and Itsuki for a little bit longer, we headed off back to the house.

When we came home, we found Daisy working with Primula and Max in the kitchen, they were cleaning up the dishes, "how are Mayumi and Itsuki doing?" Daisy asked.

"They're doing okay," Kaede answered, "They said they love living in that apartment."

"At least it's better than that apartment Rin lived in before," said Max.

"Yep," I nodded in agreement. I looked over to Daisy, "they also told us that Erica happens to be one of their next door neighbours."

Daisy stopped washing the dishes and looked over to me completely shocked, "are you serious? They're living in the same complex as Erica?" I nodded my head, "wow! I thought though they were going to move into a bigger house."

"What are you talking about?" Monty asked as he came into the room.

"Well, when I was living with Erica and her family, her parents said that they wanted to move out of the apartment, which was very nice by the way, and move into a bigger house - I guess those plans went away when they left me."

"Quick question here," Max spoke up, "is Erica an only child."

"Yeah she's an only child, I was her _only_ sister," she said as she went back to washing the dishes.

"What was it like living with Erica and her family? Can you tell us Daisy?"

"Of course I can tell you..."

Back when Daisy used to live with Erica and her family, she was a shy girl who didn't have that many friends. When she first moved in with Erica, Daisy hardly said a word, she would stay out of any room the family was in, mostly because she didn't feel like one of the family.

"She's hardly said a word since we brought her home," Erica was saying to her mother.

"Oh she will in due time," her mother said, "she's just nervous about being in a new family."

"Yeah I guess so - I would be too if I moved in with a new family."

One day, Ruri came over to see Erica, "they got this new game at the arcade and I was wondering if you would to go try it out," she said to Erica. Before Erica could say a word though, Ruri saw an unfamilar face standing near one of the doorways, "and who's that?"

"Oh that's my sister Daisy, we recently adopted her," Erica looked back over to Daisy, "come on over here and say hello!" she called, "come on Daisy, there's no need to be shy."

Daisy walked out from the room, but stopped just before the doorway that lead into the kitchen, "hi, I...I...I'm Daisy," she said in a shy way.

"Okay, she's extermly shy," said Erica.

"I can see that. Hello there Daisy, I'm Ruri, I'm one of Erica's friends, it's nice to meet you."

Daisy didn't say another word, instead - she stayed quiet.

"Hey Daisy, do you want to go out with us? We're going to go over to the arcade."

"No!" Daisy cried, "I don't want to go out."

"Ah...okay," Erica was slightly confused, "ah...I'll be out for a while, if you need anything just ask my mom okay?" Again, Daisy said nothing, "right, I'll talk to you later."

Once Erica had her shoes on, she and Ruri left for the arcade.

"Is there a reason why you didn't want to go out with Erica and Ruri?" Erica's mother asked.

"I just don't feel like going out," Daisy answered quietly, then she walked off back to her room without saying another word.

Erica came home at around seven that evening, she had three new teddy bears in her arms. "Oh yeah that was a lot of fun," she said happily as she placed the new teddy bears on the Futon.

"Erica honey." Erica looked over to the doorway and saw her mother standing there.

"Yeah mom, what is it?"

"I want you to talk to Daisy for a bit okay? She's awfully lonely without someone to talk to."

"Okay mom, I'll go talk to her." And so, Erica walked out of her room and walked over to Daisy's room. Daisy was sitting on her Futon, looking miserable and lonely, "hey Daisy, how are you feeling?"

Daisy didn't answer her.

Erica walked into the room and sat down next to Daisy, "look I know it's not easy getting used to a new family, but you will in due time," she said, still Daisy said nothing, "listen you don't have to be alone anymore okay? We all want to help you cheer up and make you happy."

"I've never been happy," Daisy said quietly, "I haven't been happy since the day my parents were murdered."

"Murdered? W..what happened?"

Daisy sighed unhappily, then she told Erica everything about Ivy's hatred towards her and her parents, then she told Erica about how she was able to escape and lastly, she told her new sister about the other families that adopted her before.

"Every time I move in with a new family," she said sadly, "she comes along and forces the family to get rid of me - then she beats me up again, hoping to finish what she started."

There was silence in the room after Daisy had finished telling Erica everything.

After a few minutes, Erica finally broke the silence, "I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your parents Daisy," she said kindly, "and you don't need to worry about your sister okay? She won't get you now, I won't let her get you this time."

"You mean it?"

"Of course I mean it," Erica smiled.

"Thank you," and for the first time in a long time, Daisy showed a small smile.

Erica smiled too, "you know something, I think this could be the start of a wonderful friendship."

"...Three months later though, the family was forced to get rid of me because of Ivy's threats," Daisy continued, "Ivy found me and tried to finish the job again, but I got away from her."

"Were you adopted into another family after that?" Monty asked.

"Nope, this time I stayed on the streets for four months until that day I went into the mall and...well, the rest you all know," Daisy sighed quietly and before she spoke up again, "I tell you this though, Erica sure put up one heck of a fight trying to keep me in the family..."

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Erica shouted angerily at her parents, "you can't just give up Daisy."

"For the safety of our family we have to," said her father.

"And what about Daisy huh? You're just going to let that bitch hurt her? I once told Daisy that she doesn't have to worry about her stupid sister anymore because we would always protect her."

"Her sister threatened all of us unless we get rid of Daisy," said her mother, "she was holding a knife as she said it, it was covered in blood."

"I don't care if she was a rocket launcher, I am not letting Daisy go. If that bitch wants Daisy, she'll have to go through me first!"

Try as she might, Erica fought aganist her parents to keep Daisy in the family - but in the end, her parent's minds had been made up, there was nothing Erica could do.

"You will take her out to wherever you want to go to," her mother said to her, "then you leave, understand?"

"I hate you two, I won't do it! I WON'T!" she cried.

Erica ran over to her room and locked the door, "I will never betray Daisy, never!" she sobbed and started to cry.

"...Erica never did, on the day the family left me, Erica stayed in her room, refusing to come out cause she knew her parents were going to get rid of me," Daisy continued, "at least she kept true to her word, so I couldn't hold a grudge aganist her. Truth be told, I had been wondering how Erica was doing after I left the family, she must've been devastated after the family got rid of me."

"She was," Kaede spoke up, "from what we learned from Ruri, she wouldn't answer her phone, she wouldn't hang out with her friends and she wouldn't talk to anyone."

"That was until she found out that you're living here," I said, "she called us and asked me to meet up with her outside of the school, that's when she told me everything about you Daisy."

Before Daisy could say another word, we heard the phone ring again.

"Man, two phone calls in a day," chuckled Naomi, but before she could say another word, Primula covered her mouth with her left hand. "Oh for pete's sake," she mumbled under her breath.

Kaede was the one who got the phone, "hello? Oh hello Erica, we were just talking about you," she smiled, "yes, Daisy is here...hold on one second," Kaede looked over to Daisy, "Erica would like to talk to you."

Daisy walked over to the phone and excepted it from Kaede, "Hi Erica," she said happily, "yes we were talking about you. I was telling everyone about when I used to live with you and your parents...ah, no I'm not doing anything tomorrow, why? You would like me to come by for a visit? Well...sure, I would love to come over for a visit, is it okay if Matt, Kaede and Monty come along with me? Ah sure, I'll check with them."

Daisy didn't even need to ask, we all agreed to go with her.

"They all said they would love to come with me. Yes I remember where you live," she giggled, "okay, see you tomorrow. Bye."

So the next afternoon, after I had gotten off work, I went back to the house to pick up Daisy, Monty and Kaede, then we headed off back to the apartment complex.

The moment we arrived, Daisy looked up at the apartment complex, "it's been a long time since I've been here," she said quietly, "it brings back a flood of memories for me."

"I know how you feel Daisy," I said to her, "it's emotional to see this place again."

"Yeah, it is emotional," she took in a deep breath and then started walking forwards to Erica's apartment, but then she stopped, her shoulders twitched.

Monty walked up to Daisy, "it's okay Daisy," he said in a calm way. He grabbed Daisy's right hand, then he rubbed a small part of her skin softly, "we're right here okay?"

"Okay," she said quietly as she wiped the tears away from her eyes. She took in another deep breath, then she walked forwards to the apartment again. Once she got up to the door, she took in another deep breath and knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, the door was opened and there was - Erica.

"Hey Daisy, it's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too," Daisy said quietly, "you'll have to excuse me if I get a little emotional."

"It's okay Daisy, I know it's probably emotional for you to be back here. Now come on in, all of you," she said with a smile on her face.

Daisy walked into the apartment first, followed by Monty, then Kaede and I followed them inside. The apartment looked quite like Mayumi and Itsuki's apartment, just with different wallpaper and a very big TV in the living room.

"It looks the same as before," Daisy said quietly.

"Actually we've made some changes to this place since you were here Daisy," said Erica, "since the last time you were here, we had to replace the TV because the old one broke down, we also redid the wallpaper in a couple of bedrooms and we even had to replace one of the windows."

"Why?" Monty asked.

Erica chuckled nervously for a second and then answered Monty's question, "well, sometime after Daisy left, I...smashed the window." We all looked at Erica surprised, "hey I was angry okay? I was so mad at my mom and dad for getting rid of Daisy that I punched the window hard."

"Ouch," whispered Monty.

"Yeah it hurt," said Erica as she shook her hand, "my parents were surprised when they found out about this. Of course shortly after that, I locked myself in my bedroom, unless I went to school, and I refused to speak to anyone until I found out that Daisy was living with Matthew and Kaede."

"How did you find out?" Kaede asked.

"I found out on the day Matthew first met her. I saw her hugging Matthew and not letting go, so I knew she was going to be living with you guys."

"Okay, but I remember when we first met at the arcade, you asked me if I was 'Matthew Gagnon', how did you know my name?"

"Oh come on, everyone in the school knew you as Kaede's loving boyfriend."

"Oh," I said meekily.

I looked down to Daisy, she was looking down the hallway, "can I have a look at my old room?" she asked Erica, who nodded her head.

Erica lead Daisy to her old bedroom, Monty promised he would not let go of Daisy's hand. Kaede and I followed them to that room. Erica opened the door, then Daisy walked in.

Within seconds, Daisy broke down - it was emotional for her to be in the room, quite similar to how I felt when I went into my old bedroom in my old house during that trip to New Liskard a year ago. Monty gave her a hug to help calm her down, then he said to her, "we don't have to stay in here any longer if you don't want to," he said kindly to her.

"Hey Kaede," I whispered to my wife, "remember when you told me that when we went to my old house?"

"I remember," she whispered back, "I think I said the same thing to you that day."

"Yes you did," I smiled.

"We don't have to conquer all your fears in one day, okay Daisy?" Monty said to her. Daisy nodded her head, Kaede and I looked at each other and smiled, Monty said the exact same words Kaede told me that day.

After Daisy and Monty walked out of the bedroom, we were given a tour of the apartment by Erica. When her parents came in, we introduced ourselves to them.

"So you're Daisy's big brother," said Erica's mother, "Erica has told us about you. It's nice to meet you Mr. Gagnon."

"It's nice to meet you too, and please just call me Matthew."

"We also heard that you kicked Ivy's sorry a...ah, butt," Erica's father quickly corrected himself as he didn't want to swear in front of Kaede or Daisy.

"Yeah I once fought Ivy, but I wasn't the only one who fought that girl - Daisy helped me too."

"You guys should've seen it," said Monty, "Daisy really kicked butt that day, she was able to defeat her sister. She was great."

Daisy just smiled as we said that, she ran up to Monty and gave him a hug, then she kissed him on the right side of his face - he blushed a bright shade of red before he kissed her back on the left side of her face.

"I'm so happy for you Daisy," Erica said happily, "you have a wonderful boyfriend and a wonderful family too."

"Thanks Erica," Daisy smiled as she ran up to her and hugged her.

Then Daisy looked over to me, she ran up to me and gave me a big hug, I wrapped my arms and I literally lifted her off feet. She then kissed me on the right side of my face.

"I love you Matthew, my big brother," she said happily.

"I love you too Daisy, my little sister," I said to her.

After the hugs, we spent a couple more hours talking with Erica and her family, until it was time to go, "Thanks for inviting us over," Kaede said to Erica.

"You're welcome," Erica smiled, then she looked over to Daisy, "I hope we can hang out again soon."

"Oh I'm sure we will," smiled Daisy.

We said goodbye to Erica and her parents, then we got into the truck and drove off for home. Daisy waved to Erica and her parents until we were out of sight.


	29. First Crush

And my writing spree continues. Hello there loyal readers, I am proud to present to you all the 29th episode of 'Our Kinda Life', this one goes not only to Naomi, the Little Sis of the family, but also to Sia and Dave, so some parts of this story is third person narration. I owe a special thank you to my bro, Mike11208, who helped me come up with the name and personality for the new character you are about to meet in this story. Now as a reminder, the series is rated M with swearing included, the date of this chapter begins on Friday September 30th 2011. Anyhow, I hope you will enjoy this episode.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 29: First Crush**_

It had been raining all day long, which made Al and I glad we weren't doing an 'On Location' episode for 'Tech Corner'. We worked hard all day long, then after we were done for the day, we went home to our families.

When I came in, I was soaked from head to toe, "it's really coming down hard there again," I muttered quietly to myself.

I took off my sweater and walked over to the kitchen, Kaede was working in there, she was washing the dishes, "how was your day Matthew?"

"Well what can I say? I was as busy as a woodpecker in a lumber yard," I chuckled, Kaede giggled along to that.

I grabbed one of the towels and started drying my hair with it. As I was doing that, Kaede asked me, "have you noticed Naomi lately? She seems to be acting a little different."

"Yeah that you mention it, she has been acting like a little weird, even for her."

"I heard that!" I heard Naomi call out with a angry tone in her voice.

"Sorry Little Sis," I said kindly.

"Are you feeling okay Naomi?" Kaede asked kindly.

"Yeah I'm feeling great and there's a good reason why," she said cheerfully while giggling, "wanna take a wild guess why?"

"Let's see...did you get a new manga book?" I asked, Naomi shook her head, "no huh? Okay ah...did you get a new sweater?" Again, she shook her head, "okay, new skirt?"

"Nope," she giggled, "you're way off Big Bro!"

"Little Sis has a crush on a boy at school," said Primula as she came into the kitchen.

"Big Sis!" Naomi exclaimed, "I wanted them to guess!"

"Sorry," Primula said meekily. She looked down to see Bridget the Cat rubbing aganist her legs, "nice kitty," she said quietly as she got down on her knees and started patting the top of Bridget's head.

"Big Sis's right though, I do have a crush on a boy at our school - he's super cute and super handsome - and today I got my chance to talk to him again," she giggled happily, "I'm so happy right now!"

"She's been like that all day," Daisy added as she came into the kitchen, along with Monty, "so what's his name?"

"Sorry," she giggled as she walked off to the doorway, "but that's a secret until tomorrow night, cause that's when he's coming over. Wink-wink," she said while winking before she walked out.

"She's not suppose to say 'wink-wink' while winking, it would be as crazy as saying period after I'm done talking," said Max.

"It does sound crazy when you do think about it, period," added Monty.

"Who knows what goes on the head of that little girl, question mark. New paragraph...what the heck am I saying?" Mostly everyone laughed when they heard me say that.

"I think it's sweet that Naomi found someone she really likes," Kaede said happily.

"I think she should be careful around this guy," said Monty, we all looked over to him confused, "well you never know, this guy might act like a nice guy to Naomi, but in reality he could be a huge jerk like that Jun Takeda."

"Maybe," I said, "But then again, maybe this is a shy little kid who probably doesn't have a lot of friends."

"Don't judge before you know," Primula said out loud, then she said, "yes Matthew, I knew you were going to say that."

Before I could say another word, we heard the doorbell ring. Daisy went off to answer the door - she came back a few seconds later with Sia walking in behind her.

"I hope I'm not interupting anything," she said, "I was just wondering if I could borrow that cookbook on Itailian dishes."

"I'll get it for you," said Kaede.

Kaede walked away from the counter and over to the book shelf where most of our cookbooks are. While Kaede was looking threw the bookshelf, I heard Sia sigh unhappily, "so how are things at your place Sia?"

"Okay, I guess - except that my dad and sister won't leave me alone. They're always bugging me about what Dave and I are doing during our dates."

"What? They're still doing that? I thought you guys settled this already."

"So did I, but that's just wishful thinking," Sia was saying as Kaede came over with the cookbook, "thanks Kaede. Also, I know this might sound stupid, but I think Kikyou is following us whenever we're going out."

"Are you serious? What the he...heck?" exclaimed Monty, who quickly corrected himself.

"It's like ever since that night Dave and I...you know," she said while blushing, "They think we can't go out and have a nice evening out without doing it. I really do wish they would stop, but like I said, that's just wishful thinking." She sighed once more and walked off to her house.

"Some things never change," Primula said quietly.

"You said it best Rimu," said Daisy quietly.

The next evening, at around five thirty, we were getting everything ready for our guest.

"You guys are going to like him, I just know it," smiled Naomi as she came into the kitchen.

"I'm sure we will," I said.

Right on cue, we heard the doorbell rang, Naomi ran over to the doorway, nearing tripping on the way. She stopped by the door, took in a few deep breaths and grabbed hold of the handle, "here he is," she giggled happily.

She pulled the door to the side, "Welcome to our home," Kaede and I said in unison.

"Thanks," said a scruffy voice. The boy walked into our house, he was wearing a torn black T-Shirt, his shoes looked quite worn out (similar to mine, only worse), he had chains around his waist, his hair was a slight mess and his black jeans had holes around the knee area.

"I'm so glad you could make it," Naomi said cheerfully, "did you have trouble finding the place?"

"Hell no, I had no trouble finding your house. And who are those two?"

"That's my big sis Kaede, and standing beside her is her husband Matthew Gagnon, although I call him 'Big Bro'."

"Nice to meet ya," he said, punching me in the gut.

Kaede gasped when she saw that, "I'm okay Kaede," I groaned, "and it's nice to meet you too, but please...don't do that again."

"Sorry," he snickered, (it's as if he was proud of what he did), "the name is Marshall by the way. I suppose this cute chick has kept my name a secret right?"

"Cute chick?" I asked, sounding surprised to hear that.

"Yeah that's what he calls me," Naomi giggled, "I think it's super cute. And yes Marshall, I kept your name a secret as a way to surprise them."

Marshall chuckled when he heard that, "you're a sneaky cutie aren't ya?" he asked, Naomi nodded her head, "ah that's one of the reasons why I like ya. So what's up for supper? I'm hungry."

He walked past us and over to the living room, Naomi ran after him.

"Sneaky cutie?" Kaede asked, she was also quite surprised by what Marshall said, "I've never heard any boy call a girl that before."

"That makes two of us then," I said, "even back when I was in Brother Andre and even my elementary school years, I've never heard any boy call a girl that. That Marshall sure is a one of a kind."

"Ya got that right man!" he said as he walked into the kitchen, followed by Naomi.

Before dinner was ready, I offered to take out the garbage. Just as I was putting the garbage bag into the garbage can, I saw Dave coming over, "hey Matthew, what's up?"

I was about to answer Dave's question, but that's when Sia came out, she had a question she wanted to ask me.

"Hey Matthew, who was that boy I saw go into your house?"

"Oh that's Marshall, he's Naomi's first crush," I answered as I put the garbage bag into the can.

"Naomi's first crush? Oh how sweet."

"If Kareha was here, she would be saying 'oh la la!'," Dave said while chuckling.

"Yeah that's just what Kareha would do," I chuckled, then I changed the subject, "so what are you two going to do tonight?"

"We're just going out for a little walk around the city, then we'll be going to Mike's Diner later, it's one of our favourite resturants. Right Sia?"

"It sure is," she answered as she looked back over to the house, "I have to make sure Kikyou isn't spying on us again," she looked several times, then she closed the gate, "I think for once we can have a normal night out."

"The first one in a long time," sighed Dave quietly.

"And I think I know why they aren't going to be bugging you," I said while looking over to the house, Cineraria had a firm grip on her hushand's housecoat and on the collar of Kikyou's black sweater, "yep, they won't be bugging you two tonight."

"Shall we go then?" Dave asked kindly to Sia.

"Yes, let's go," she smiled as she grabbed his hand, then the two of them walked off.

I smiled as I watched those two walk away, then I headed off back to the house. Dinner was all set up and sitting on the table when I came in, "wozers!" exclaimed a young voice, "that smells good!"

"Wozers? I thought only Inspector Gadget ever says that."

"He does, but I like saying it - I've always liked it since I was young and foolish," he chuckled.

Daisy had already brought in an extra chair, placing it next to Naomi's chair on the right side.

"Ya Naomi's sister?" Marshall asked.

"Ah no I'm not," Daisy answered, sounding a little uneasy around the boy, "I'm Daisy Gagnon, I'm Matt's sister."

"Ah okay," it was then he noticed Monty, "and who the hell are ya?"

"You've got quite a tounge don't you boy?" Monty asked, sounding offended by what Marshall said. "My name is Monty, I happen to be Daisy's boyfriend."

"Really?" Marshall asked as he raised an eyebrow, "For a second, I thought you were Matty's brother."

"Please don't call me 'Matty'," I said firmly, "I never liked it when people called me that when I was younger, and actually I still don't like that."

"And for the record," added Monty, sounding a little angry with Marshall, "My brother is Max, we're twins."

"Okay Monty, that's quite enough!" Naomi said firmly, "Marshall was just joking around. Geez you can't even take a joke - and neither can you Big Bro."

"I can take a joke," I said, but quietly I said, "only when it's a funny joke."

Primula came into the kitchen and sat down at her spot, "Big Sis, this is Marshall, the boy I told you about."

"I know him," Primula said, staring angerily at the boy.

"Yeah, we've met before, haven't we Rimu?"

"It's Primula to you," she said angerily, "I've got my eyes on you Marshall, so don't try any of your silly tricks around here. Remember, I've got my eyes on you."

"Big Sis, what is wrong with you?" Naomi asked in shock, then she looked back over to Marshall, "I'm so sorry about that."

"Nah it's okay babe," he said with a cheerful tone in his voice, "I get that alot - I wasn't really a nice guy when I started off in school - maybe I did something to make your big sister get mad at me. I can't remember anymore."

"It was last year," Primula said firmly and then went quiet.

"Oh yeah - I'm sorry, but I have a bad memory."

Judging from the looks I saw on Primula and Monty's faces, I could tell that they didn't trust Marshall for some reason, but I didn't ask them why, I walked over to my spot at the table and sat down next to Kaede.

After dinner, I helped Kaede wash the dishes and to put them away too. After we were done, we walked out of the kitchen - only to spot Monty and Primula standing outside the living room door, while it was slightly open.

"Do you think they know we're here?" Monty asked.

"I don't think so, if they did, they would've asked us to leave them alone."

"Maybe you two should," I whispered, I almost scared the heck out of those two. I looked in and saw Naomi and Marshall sitting on the couch in the living room and talking, "I can't believe you two, spying on Little Sis and Marshall like that, how can you stope so low?"

"It's the best way to spy," whispered Monty, "now quiet down please, I can't hear what they're saying."

"That's not what we're trying to do," Primula whispered, "we're trying to make sure he doesn't try anything on Little Sis."

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"What do you guys have aganist Marshall anyways?" I asked while whispering.

"It's a long story Matthew, we'll explain it later," Primula whispered back and went back to spying, "What are they doing now?"

"They're still talking..."

I decided to leave those two alone, so I went to rejoin Kaede, who was already halfway up the stairs.

At around this time, Sia and Dave had finally arrived at 'Mike's Diner', the place was almost packed - luckily though, they were able to find a table. Once they sat down, they looked all around, "and for once we can have a nice peaceful meal together," sighed Sia.

"Yeah, we haven't had one since that night," Dave said quietly.

When their waitress came, Sia and Dave asked for two glasses of ginger ale to start, "very well then," said their waitress, "that's two glasses of ginger ale, I'll be back to take your orders."

"While we're waiting," said Dave, "There's something very important I need to talk to you about."

"What's that Dave?"

"Well - I'm going off to Paris tomorrow."

"Paris, you're going to Paris France?" Sia asked in shock.

"Yep," Dave nodded, "my boss has given me some time off from work for about three weeks, so I decided to go to Paris France - I've always wanted to see that city."

Sia looked down sadly to the table, "you're really going to Paris?" she asked sadly, he nodded his head.

"Have you two decided on what you would like?" asked their waitress as she returned with their drinks.

"Yes we have," said Dave, "I'll have the Hot Hamburger and my girlfriend will have the same."

"Okay then, that's two hot hamburgers and would you two like a side order of fries?" she asked, Dave nodded his head, "okay then, I'll be back later with your orders."

When their waitress went away, Sia spoke up again, "I'm really going to miss you Dave," she said while trying to hold back her tears, "I hope you have a good time there."

"Sia, there's no need to cry okay? Cause I wasn't planning on going alone?"

"Is Daryl going along with you?"

"Well no, he's not taken three weeks off. I was actually wondering if _you_ would like to join me in Paris?"

Sia gasped when Dave said that, "you would like me to go to Paris with you?" she asked in complete surprise.

"Yep," Dave said while nodding his head.

Sia was speechless for a long period of time, then at last she answered Dave's question with a smile on her face, "Dave, I would love to go with you to Paris."

"I'm glad to hear that," he smiled. Both he and Sia started talking about the plans for their upcoming trip.

Back at our house, Marshall and Naomi were still talking in the living room while Primula, Monty and Max (who arrived a few minutes ago) continued spying on them.

"You know that's called 'Invasion of Privacy' right?" I whispered to all three of them.

"That punk," snarled Max, ignoring the last thing I just said, "I haven't forgotten what he did."

"Neither have I," added Monty.

"What did he do?" I asked.

"I'll keep an eye on them," whispered Primula, "you two better explain this to Matthew."

The twins agreed, so the three of us walked over to the doorway just as Kaede was walking downstairs, "why were you two spying on Naomi and Marshall?" Kaede asked kindly.

"We don't trust Marshall," said Max, "we have an old score with that little punk - he used to bully us everyday back when we were in Junior High. He would always try to fight us before school, during lunchtime and even after school, he was always trying to kick the crap out of us just because we were the shortest kids in our classroom."

"That, and he always wanted our lunch money and our completed homework," added Monty, "but everytime he tried to fight us, we either kicked the crap out of him or he was caught by a teacher. Last we heard from that ba...baka," he corrected himself, "he was suspended from our school and he wasn't heard from since - till now."

"Of course we don't know if he _was_ suspended from school," added Max, "but it's like my brother said..."

Primula walked over to where we were, "they nearly caught me," she whispered, "not a word about this."

Both Naomi and Marshall walked over to where we were, "so what are ya all talking about here?" Marshall asked.

"Monty and I were just telling a couple of stories," said Max as calmly as he could, "they're about the days when we were in Junior High."

"Yeah, Max and I were talking about some of the fights we used to get ourselves into."

"Is that so?" Marshall asked curiously.

"Who were you two fighting?" Naomi asked, "was it with each other?"

"No, not us," answered Max, "it was aganist a bully who never learned to leave us alone - now if only we could remember who the bully's name was," he paused and looked over to Marshall with an angry look, "I remember his name started with an 'M'."

"I know you're talking about me," said Marshall as Daisy came over to see what was going on.

"You guessed right buster!" snapped Max, "you used to bully us every single day just because we were the shortest kids in the entire classroom."

"Plus you were always trying to steal our lunch money and our completed homework," added Monty, he said in pure anger, "we haven't forgotten what you did!"

"Look, that was a long time ago..."

"It was only four years ago!" snapped Max, "first year in Junior High."

"We're going to give one warning Marshall!" Monty said firmly, "should you try any of your tricks, Max and I won't hold back - we'll kick the crap out of you."

"I got it," he said, but with a sly grin on his face, it's as if he didn't take their warning seriously.

"You will do no such thing!" snapped Naomi, "if you want to get to Marshall, you'll have to go through me first!"

Primula slowly walked away, but before she went up the stairwell, she said, "that scum isn't worth protecting Little Sis," with that said, she walked up the rest of the stairwell.

"What is wrong with you guys?" Naomi snapped, "can't you just forgive and forget?"

"Don't worry yourself baby, I get that all the time, it doesn't really bother me," Marshall said with a smile on his face, "well anyways, I better head off for home, I have some things to take care of. I'll see you around babe," he kissed Naomi on the left side of her face.

He winked at her, then he walked past us, "it was nice meeting ya Matthew, Daisy and Kaede, then there's ya two," he said while looking over to Max and Monty, "it was nice seeing ya again. Toodles!" He got his shoes on, then he headed out of the house.

"He actually kissed me - I think he likes me," Naomi said cheerfully as she walked off for the stairwell. She ran up them cheerfully and giggling happily. She didn't even yell at the twins for yelling at Marshall.

"I wonder why Rimu doesn't trust him," said Daisy.

"Why not ask her?" suggested Max as he went over towards the stairwell (and if you're wondering - yes, he does sleep with Primula), "both Monty and I know why."

"We like to tell you guys," said Monty as he grabbed Daisy's right hand, "but we did promise Rimu that we would not say a single word to anyone."

They walked off up the stairwell, leaving Kaede and I little a speechless.

The next morning, Kaede and I were outside the house talking with Sia and Dave, "you two are really going to Paris?" Kaede asked.

"We sure are," smiled Sia, "just Dave and me alone, together in Paris France for three weeks."

"So what did your parents say when you told them?" I asked, "I mean, we all know how your dad and sister are like."

"Well my mom was happy for me, my dad - he said he was happy for me too, but between us four, I don't think he's telling the truth and Kikyou - ah...no comment."

"She gave you the angry stare again right?"

"You guessed right Matthew."

"We should probably get going," Dave whispered to Sia.

"Right - well, we'll see you guys in about three weeks."

"Have a good time you two," Kaede and I said in unison. Sia and Dave turned and walked away, but not before we heard, "great minds always think alike," that came from both of them. Kaede and I laughed for a bit and waved to our friends until they were out of sight.


	30. Horseshoe Curve

In this episode, Matthew and Kaede tell off yet another story from their trip to Pennsylvania in August 2010, this time they talk about their visit to Altoona and the famous Horseshoe Curve. Who do they tell this story too? You'll have to read to find out. And not forgetting, Marshall makes another appearance in this episode. Anyhow, the rating is same as always because there is some swearing included. Also, I'm proud to say that I'm dedicating this episode to all my friends, online and in real life and also, the date of this chapter starts on October 2nd 2011.

Before we begin, I would like to say a special thank you to Mike11208 and Mr. Kokomo for helping me with fixing up this chapter. Also note that this chapter was deeply inspired by my visit to Altoona and Gillitzin back in 2003. And now here's the 30th episode of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 30: Horseshoe Curve**_

"Are you serious?" Asa was asking us while she and Rin were visiting us. Kaede and I were working on dinner while Rin and Asa sat at the table, "did Dave and Sia really leave for Paris this morning?"

"Yes, we're serious," Kaede answered, "they left early this morning."

"Is that why we heard Eustoma grunting before we came in?" Rin asked.

"Yep," I nodded, "That's the reason why he's grunting. As you know, ever since _that_ night, he doesn't trust Sia to be alone with Dave anymore - so either Sia's father or Kikyou would spy on them. At least that's what Sia's been saying said to us."

"At least now they can be alone," Asa said with a sly giggle.

It was then that Naomi came into the room, "I hope I'm not interupting anything, but I'm going out with Marshall tonight, so I won't be sticking around for dinner, I hope that's okay."

"Of course it's okay Naomi," Kaede answered with a nod.

"You have the right to live your own life the way you want to," I said, "so if you want to go out with Marshall, then that's fine with us."

"Are you two going to go out for dinner tonight?" Kaede asked.

"Yep, he's going to take me to one of his favourite resturants - although he hasn't said the name of it yet," she said meekily. She turned and looked over to the doorway, "anyways, I got to run, Marshall's all ready to go - catch you later!" With that said, she ran off to the doorway.

"Who's Marshall?" Asa asked.

"I think I know who he is," said Rin, "does he have a scruffy look, torn jeans, has messy hair and has chains wrapped around his waist?" Both Kaede and I nodded our heads, "I know that kid, he was one of my next door neighbours in the old apartment I used to stay at."

"Did you ever talk to him?" Kaede asked.

"Ah...no I didn't."

"Mostly because you are shy," Asa giggled and slapped Rin's back, "you need to get over being shy."

"Well I'm trying," he said quietly while groaning, "and that wasn't what I was going to say. I was going to say that we never spoke because of his parents, for some reason, they just don't want him talking to other people - reason why I just don't know."

"Must be trust issues or something. Anyways, getting back to what we were talking about before, I think Sia and Dave are lucky. I've always wanted to go to Paris," she sighed quietly, "I bet they'll have a great time."

"I'm sure they will," Kaede said happily, "just like Matthew and I did during our trip to Pennsylvania."

"Remind me, how many places did you two visit during your trip last year?" Rin asked.

"We went to alot of different places Rin," I answered, "first was Strasburg, then we went off to Altoona and a little town called Gallitzin - remember when we were at the Tunnel Inn Kaede?"

"Yes I remember the Tunnel Inn, it was nice little hotel," she nodded happily, "I was quite surprised to find out that it was so close to the tracks with about forty to sixty trains going by every day."

"What?" exclaimed Asa.

"Forty to Sixty trains?" exclaimed Rin, "you guys can't be serious."

"Oh we're serious," I said, "there were about forty to sixty trains going by every day and night too..."

After our stay in Strasburg, Kaede and I headed off for Gallitzin and the Tunnel Inn. We left at around nine in the morning, stopped a few times for gas and to get something to eat, then we finally arrived in the town of Gallitzin at around four thirty, "geez," I groaned as I stepped out of the truck, "I've forgotten how long it takes to get here from Strasburg."

"When was the last time you came to this hotel Matthew?" Kaede asked.

"About seven years ago," I answered, "my dad and I came here after our trip to Strasburg. Come to think of it, that was the last time I went on a trip with my dad, after that...we never went on a trip again until 2008."

Kaede was just about to say something, but she didn't as we heard a rumbling sound from close by, "What's that?" Kaede asked nervously.

"Look down the hill Kaede, you'll see what it is." Kaede looked and saw a Norfolk Southern freight train popping out of the open tunnel (for the record, there are two tunnels, but the second one has been closed up for many years).

"I had no idea the hotel was so close to the tracks," she gasped.

"That was my reaction when my dad and I first came here," I said, "he never told me that the hotel was close to the tracks."

We watched as the entire freight train went by, then after it had passed, we walked inside to get our room. The hotel manager saw us coming and gasped when she saw me, "Mr. Matthew Gagnon, it's good to see you again," said the hotel manager, "it's been a long time."

"Indeed it has," I agreed, "it's been seven years since my previous visit."

"Indeed," she looked to my left, "And who's this lovely lady with you?"

"I'm his Fiancée, my name is Kaede Fuyou, it's nice to meet you."

"And nice to meet you too," the hotel manager looked back over to me, "it seems like only yesterday when you and your dad came here for a visit and now you're here with your Fiancée. Anyways, the room is all set up for you," she grabbed the keys and handed them to me, "it's the same one you were in last time."

"Thank you very much," I said as I excepted the keys.

"Enjoy your stay."

"We will," Kaede said happily.

Kaede followed me up the stairwell and down the hallway until we reached our room. It almost looked the same as it did the last time I was in that room. It was a small room with two beds, several pictures of Pennsylvania railroad steam locomotives were on the wall, a small TV sat on top of a cabinet and there was a steam engine shaped lamp on the table in between the two beds, that and the three additional pictures were what was different from last time.

"Okay Kaede, it's your turn to decide on which bed we're going to sleep on."

"Ah...I choose the bed on the left," she answered.

"Very well then, I'll put our suitcases on the other bed," with that confirmed, I walked off down the stairwell on the outside of the hotel to get our suitcases, camera cases and the souvenirs we bought in Strasburg.

After we had finished unpacking our suitcases, Kaede and I went to get something to eat - since it's been a long time since I last visited the city, we asked the hotel manager if she could tell us of some of the best resturants in the entire city. She told us a few and we went out to one of those resturants.

When we got back, we watched a bit of TV up to Ten in the evening, when we got changed into our pajamas and went off to sleep.

Sometime after Midnight though, Kaede awoke when she heard a rumbling noise again. She was worried of what it was, "Matthew," she called nervously to me, "Matthew!" She nudged my shoulder a bit until I finally woke up.

"Yes? What is it Kaede?" I asked while yawning.

"Can't you hear that sound?" she asked nervously.

I listened carefully to the sounds Kaede heard, "it's just another Norfolk Southern freight train going by," I said. Kaede looked out the window to see another freight going by, "tell me, is it going into the tunnel?"

"It is," she nodded.

"I thought so, that means that train is climbling up the mountain side now. The noise you heard was just properly the diesel locomotives' engines. There's nothing to be scared of..." I ran my left hand's fingers threw her hair and rubbed her back softly with my left hand, "feeling better now?"

"Yes, I'm feeling better now Matthew," she answered as she watched the last car of the freight train go by, "thank you." She yawned again, then she rested her head on my chest and went off to sleep. I stayed awake for a couple more minutes, during that time I heard another freight train go by. After a while, I closed my eyes and went off to sleep.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a second here," Asa interupted, "Matthew, you can actually sleep when a train is going by?"

"Yes I can," I chuckled quietly, "I am a bit of a heavy sleeper."

"So how many trains did go by during the night?" Rin asked

"I only counted two of them before I went off to sleep," Kaede answered, "but we saw lots of trains the next day right Matthew?"

"That's right Kaede, we did see lots of trains go by - especially when we were at the Horseshoe Curve..."

After breakfast the next morning, Kaede and I headed off towards Altoona, but before we got there, we stopped by a famous location - the famous Horseshoe Curve. Before we went up there, we checked out the small museum, which had a lot of Pennsylvania railroad items and information about the Horsehoe Curve's history.

"At one time, the Horseshoe Curve had four lines," Kaede was saying as she read the info, "then when the Conrail railroad came, they removed one of the tracks."

After looking around for a bit, Kaede and I rode on one of the Incline railway's trains up the hillside. That train looked like a passenger coach and was painted in the same chocolate brown paint that the Pennsylvania Railroad once had on their passenger coaches. No sooner had Kaede and I got up to the top of the hill, we heard the sounds of a train coming. Kaede got out her digital camera to take pictures while I got out the video camera. We watched as the train went by, then we went to look at the engine that sat on display.

"The information here says that the engine on display here is 1361, but that's not the engine's number. This engine's number is 7048."

"Yes I know, they moved the 1361 out of this siding years ago and put this engine on display in it's place. I think it's still being overhauled in Scranton, I'm not enterily sure. We'll find out later when we go to the railroad museum."

A few minutes later, an Amtrak passenger train came into view, "it's slowing down," said Kaede.

"Yep, that's to allow the passengers a chance to see the curve."

Kaede and I waved to the passengers and they waved back to us. The engineer blasted the horn as his way of saying 'hello' to us. After a few minutes, the diesels started off on their way again - just as another Norfolk Southern double-stack freight train came into view. Once again, I filmed the trains while Kaede took the pictures. Talk about being lucky to see two trains at the same location passing by each other.

Once the freight was gone, I looked back over to Kaede, "do you want to stick around a bit longer or would you like to go to the museum?"

"I would like to stay here and watch a few more trains go by," she answered.

And that's just what we did, we watched four more trains go by - then after taking the incline train back down the hill, we got back into the truck, then we drove off to the museum.

When we arrived, we checked out the collection on the outside first, like the preserved GG1 electric locomotive and some of the other railroading equipment outside, after that we went inside the museum. Like the small museum at the Horseshoe Curve, there were lots of Pennsylvania railroad items here, only there were more at this museum.

There was even a small theatre showing movies of the history of the Pennsylvania Railroad and even showing the 1361 steam locomotive and it turns out that it was indeed still in Scranton being overhauled.

At another exhabit, Kaede was looking at the history of the railroad, "it says here that the Pennsylvania was merged with it's arch rival: The New York Central in 1968 to become the Penn Central," she was saying, "the railroad sadly went backrupt in 1975 and later became part of the Conrail system."

One of the next exhabits was a model railroad represented the operations of the Pennsylvania railroad when it ran along on the tracks in Altoona. There was also a machine there that can flatten pennies, kinda like a train would when it rolls over a coin, main difference though is that this machine can leave the logo of the museum on the penny. I gave a penny to Kaede and she put it inside the machine.

"Be careful when you take out that coin Kaede, it's going to be a little hot."

Kaede went to pick it up, "ow," she cried, "it's hot!" I grabbed her hand and blew on it gently, then kissed it softly.

"Better?"

"Yes, thank you." I grabbed the coin out of the machine, then I gave it to Kaede, "thank you Matthew, I promise I'll take good care of it," she said as she put it in her purse.

"I know you will," I held out my right hand and she grabbed it with her left hand.

We looked at everything in the museum, then we went down to the museum's gift shop. Kaede got a couple of coffee cups with the logo of the Pennsylvania railroad on it while I got a 'Trains on Location' DVD and a Pennsylvania railroad Box Car in HO Scale. After buying those things, we looked around the museum one more time, then we headed off back to the hotel.

Since it was such a nice day, Kaede and I decided to sit out on the balcony of the hotel. We just sat back and relaxed on the lawn chairs, except when a train went by, that's when we got out the cameras and filmed them or took pictures of the trains.

"Did you and your dad do this when you came here seven years ago?" Kaede asked.

"Only on the first day when we came here, the other two days, it was raining none stop. So I had watched the trains from the windows inside our room. Tell me Kaede, are you having a good time so far?"

"Yes, I'm having a wonderful time," she answered, "especially since I'm here with you Matthew

"I'm glad to hear that," I smiled and blushed into a small shade of red. Just then, we heard the sound of roaring diesels coming towards the tunnel, so once again I got the video camera out.

"Matthew, can I try using the video camera?"

"Of course you can Kaede," I said as I gave her the camera.

She walked over to the railings, turned the camera on and filmed the entire train as it went by. After the train had gone by, we both looked at the footage, "oh, it's still a little woobly," Kaede groaned.

"Maybe, but you're getting better everytime."

"You really think so?" she asked, I nodded my head, "thank you. Practice makes perfect, right?"

"Right," I nodded in agreement, "I couldn't have said it better myself." Kaede rested her head on my left shoulder as we waited for the next train to come by.

At around five, we went to another resturant that the hotel manager told us about, "oh yeah I remember this resturant," I said, "Dad and I came here on our second day here, we both ordered huge pepperoni pizzas. He finished his, but I didn't - I left only one slice on the plate."

"How big are the pizzas?"

"Let's see - they're about the size of a large spagetti bowl X2." Kaede looked over to me surprised, "yeah they're that big and my dad and I ordered two of them."

For tonight, Kaede and I decided to sit at the bar. After checking out the menu, we ordered one large cheese pizza and two glasses of ginger ale, "so tell me, where do you two come from?" the man behind the counter asked us.

"We're from Tokyo Japan," Kaede answered.

"Tokyo huh? That's quite interesting - we get lots of visitors from all over the world. They usually come here to see the Horseshoe Curve. Have you two gone there yet?"

"Yes we have," I answered, "we were there just this morning."

"How many trains did you two see?"

"We saw about six trains go by," Kaede answered.

"What about the railroad museum, have you two gone there yet?" he asked, we both nodded. One of the cooks in the kitchen called out to him saying that our pizza was ready. The man walked into the kitchen and returned within seconds with our pizza

"Enjoy!" the man said to us. He turned and walked up to one of the TVs in the bar area, turned it on and walked into the kitchen to wash some of the dishes.

"Sounds like you two had a great time while you were in Gallitzin and Altoona," said Asa, "tell me though, did you actually finish eating the pizza?"

"Yes we did, I took one half of it and Kaede took the other half of it. It was quite delicous, wasn't it Kaede?"

"Yes it was," then she added with a cute tone in her voice, "but I like the pizzas you make better." She stood up on her toes and kissed on the left side of my face.

"How cute," smiled Asa, then she looked over to Rin and...she kissed him on the right side of his face. Rin was just speechless and his cheeks went bright red, "I just wanted to kiss you," Asa said in her teasing way.

"Is that so?" Rin asked, also in a teasing way, "well then, maybe you won't mind if I kiss you..." he then kissed Asa, but not on the right side of her face or the left side, it was on the lips.

"Woohoo! Way to go Rin!" I called. Kaede just giggled.

They kissed for about twenty seconds before they seperated, they were both blushing bright red. Asa turned around and looked back over to us, "So Kaede, did you have any trouble sleeping in that room afterwords?"

"Only a little, I was woken up by a couple of freight trains that went through in the middle of the night."

"And naturally Matthew would sleep through every train that went by, am I right?" Rin asked.

"Yes," Kaede answered and I nodded my head.

"I just had a thought here," Asa spoke up as she looked over to me, "you proposed to Kaede during your trip in Pennsylvania. Well, what if Dave proposes to Sia while they are in Paris?"

"Well we won't know until they get back from their trip," I said.

"Yep," Kaede nodded before she looked back over to Rin and Asa, "After dinner, would you two like to see our home movies of our trip in Altoona and Gallitzin?"

"Of course we would love to see your home movies," Asa answered, "Right Rin?" Rin nodded his head happily in agreement.

Speaking of dinner, we had just finished cooking it up at this time, tonight we were having a chicken dinner with rice as side dishes. If you're wondering about Primula and Daisy, they're out on a double date with Max and Monty, so it was just the four of us. As usual, it was quite delicous.

After we were done eating, I offered to wash the dishes, "I'll help you Matthew," said Rin.

"Okay, thanks Rin," I said as I grabbed some dishes. Rin grabbed the other ones, then we took them over to the sink while Kaede and Asa went off to the living room to look at some pictures from the Gallitzin and Altoona portion of the trip.

"So Rin, are you still having trouble sleeping?"

"No not any more, not since Asa and I switched places on the bed."

"Let me guess, she was still kicking you out of the bed right?"

"You guessed right Matthew, but I know it's not her fault, so I'm not blaming her for that, she just doesn't know when she's doing it."

"Well I'm glad to know that you're _not_ blaming your wife over this," I smiled.

Rin and I worked together for another five minutes until all the dishes, pots and pans were clean and put away in the cupboards. With our work done, we went to rejoin Kaede and Asa in the living room and to watch those movies together.

At around nine, Asa and Rin were ready to head off back to their house, "Thanks so much for inviting us over tonight," Asa was saying, "we had a great time, didn't we Rin?"

"Yep, we sure did," he answered while nodding, "and thanks for telling us a bit about your visit to Gallitzin and Altoona."

"You're welcome," Kaede and I answered in unison.

"Yo! Anybody here!" called a scruffy voice, we knew who that was. A second later, Marshall and Naomi came over to the stairwell where we all were, "friends of all ya?" he asked.

"Yes they're friends of ours," Naomi said with a smile on her face, "This is Rin Tsuchimi and his wife Asa."

"I know him," Marshall said, "he was one of my next door neighbours. I can't believe how many times this guy gets himself into trouble."

"Oh no," groaned Rin, "please tell me you didn't hear that fight I had with Matthew back in June."

"I heard - damn, I've never heard such a racket coming from your apartment. What were ya doing? Were ya in a fighting compitation in your apartment?"

"Ah...no..."

"He's just joking Rin," Naomi giggled, then she spoke to Marshall, "I had a great time with you tonight. I hope we can go out again soon."

"Ya asking me out on another date huh? Woo!" he exclaimed, "I think that can be arranged. I'll check with my folks tonight and see if I'll be busy tomorrow and if not - then ya and I can go out again."

"Sweet."

"Anyhoo, I gotta run, me folks will be upset if I'm late getting home again. Trust me, they're both yellers. See you tomorrow babe," and like yesterday, he kissed Naomi on the right side of her face, winked at her and then he ran off.

"He kissed me again," Naomi said happily and fell to her knees, "I'm definetly in love."

"As Kareha would say, 'oh la la'," Asa said while mimicking Kareha's favourite catchpharse.

Asa and Rin said their good nights to us, then they headed off back to their house. As for Naomi, I had to carry her back to her bedroom - I guess you could say that she was lost in her own little world.

A little later while Kaede was getting changed, I was on the Sodor Island Forums talking with my friends again, "sounds like you and Kaede had a fun trip down memory lane," said Warrior's message.

"Yeah I guess we did," I agreed as I replied back to Warrior's message.

"So how's Naomi doing?" Metamorphical's message asked.

"She's quite well - she went out with Marshall again tonight, then after he kissed her, she fell to her knees and said 'I'm definetly in love', then she was out like a light - lost in her own little world."

"He sure seems like a wonderful boyfriend to her - but what does Primula have aganist him?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."

I talked with my friends for a few more minutes, then after the discussions I had with them, I logged off, shut down my computer, turned off the lights and layed down on the bed.

Kaede climbed in a few seconds later, "are you comfortable honey?" I asked.

Kaede nodded happily, "I'll see you in the morning Matthew."

"Yeah, and I'll see you in the morning," I said while winking, Kaede giggled like always, "I love you."

"And I love you too. Good night Matthew."

"Good night Kaede," we kissed each other on the lips for about thirty seconds, then we closed our eyes and went off to sleep with our hands holding onto each other.


	31. Marshall

Okay my friends, you've been waiting to see more of 'Marshall' and now I'm happy to present the next episode to feature him. In this episode, the secret as to why Primula has a grudge aganist him will be revealed and some of the horrible tricks he pulled off will be revealed in this very chapter. Note that when Marshall and Naomi are out on their date, it's all third person narration. Anyhow, this chapter's rating is the same as always for there is some swearing included - anyhow, I hope you will enjoy reading this chapter, oh and the chapter's date is October 3rd 2011.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 31: Marshall**_

It had been quite a busy day for me, Al and I had worked very hard on the set of 'Tech Corner' and now I was coming home to relax and spend some time with Kaede. As I was walking up the pathway, I saw Naomi waiting outside the house.

"Hey Little Sis, what are you doing out here? Are you waiting for Shiori or Lance?"

"Nah," she answered, "Shiori is busy this afternoon with an art-class project and Lance is also busy, he's making another movie for his class."

"She's waiting for that dirt bag," I heard Primula said with an angry tone in her voice.

"Now that's just being rude Primula," I said firmly. She continued to show me that angry stare - last time I ever saw that angry stare was last year just before she punched Naomi _and_ me.

"Little Sis, don't go out with him."

Before Naomi could say another word, we heard someone say, "now why would ya be saying that?" we looked to see who it was, it was Marshall, "if this cute chick wants to go out with me, then it's up to her, not ya."

"Watch that tounge of yours, or else..."

"That's enough Big Sis!" Naomi snapped, "I don't want to hear another word! Come on Marshall, let's go!"

"Right behind ya babe," Marshall said with a smile on his face. It's as though he wasn't upset over Primula's harsh words, "I'll bring the babe back later. Toodles!" he called.

"Why do you say such horrible things to Marshall?" I heard Kaede ask Primula.

"I'll tell you after dinner," she said firmly, "in the meantime, I got to work on my homework." With that said, she headed off for her room.

"It's not like Rimu," said Kaede as I took my shoes off, "she's never held onto a grudge aganist anyone. I've never seen that happen before, even when Rin was living here."

"That Marshall must've really done something bad to upset her," I said, "either that or hurt her."

"You don't really think he did do you?"

"I don't know Kaede," I answered.

A little later, after spending some time at the arcade, Naomi and Marshall were walking into the park near the fountain.

"Hey Marshall, I want to apologize for the way Big Sis and the twins have been acting around you. I just can't understand why Big Sis is acting like this in front of you and as for the twins, well - they love holding onto grudges."

"Nah don't worry about it babe, damn insults don't bother me - well not as much anymore, I'm getting to used to it."

"Still it's not right, I'm going to give that big sister a good talking to when I get home."

"Don't ya do that cutie, I don't want ya and Primula to get into a fight because of me," he said with a serious tone in his voice. The two of them walked up to the fountain, then sat down on the ledge of it, "so please, don't fight with her."

"Okay I won't," then Naomi said with a shy tone in her voice, "I...I had a great time with you tonight Marshall."

"Well I had a grand time with ya baby. I actually enjoyed myself for once."

"Huh?"

"Well, you see I usually go with my jackass brother Curtis, he's such a poor loser. He loses at a game and he will take his anger out on anyone and that's includes me. He's one ploke I don't want ya to meet. And me sister Cassandra - whew, stay away from that bitch."

"Why?"

"Well - let's just say she is the bully of the family. If another girl comes into the house, she'll find a way to beat ya up."

"Has that happened to you before?"

"Nope, not to me, but to Curtis - well, let's just say she gave him a reason not to date for a long time," then again he said with a serious note, "I don't want her to hurt ya, so that's why I'm not taking you back to me place."

"It's understandable," Naomi said kindly, "I'm still having a good time though," she slid her left hand towards Marshall's right hand.

"Ya want to hold hands for a while?" Marshall asked with a sly grin. Naomi blushed a small shade of red, but didn't answer his question. After a few seconds, she finally nodded her head. Marshall grabbed her left hand and held it softly with his right hand, "this is nice isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," Naomi smiled, "hey Marshall - do you like watching sunsets?"

"Ya beat I do," he answered with a cheerful tone in his voice.

"Then I say that's another thing you and I have in common." They went quiet as they watched the sun setting for the day.

Naomi soon came home after saying good night to Marshall, "how was your date with Marshall?" Kaede asked kindly.

"It was great - no, super great - no, no. It was...it was...FANTASTIC!" she cheered, "he told me a bit about himself and his family, then I got to hold his hand while we watched the sunset. I know I already said this before, but I can't help myself," she giggled happily, "I'm in love and I think Marshall loves me."

"It's all a lie Little Sis," said a firm voice from behind her, "you're dating a lowlife scumbag."

"Rimu," Kaede gasped.

"That was uncalled for Big Sis!" snapped Naomi.

"No, it suits him just fine. You have no idea of what that boy really is like. Back when I started school, he used to tease me just because I didn't know alot of things, he also called me 'ugly' and 'pathetic' and on one rainy day, he pushed me into a mud puddle. No wait, he shoved me into the mud puddle!"

"But you told me that you tripped as you were leaving the school," said Kaede.

"I know I did and I'm sorry for lying to you Kaede, but I didn't want you to be worried."

"That's not Marshall!" snapped Naomi, "just the other day, we came across a dirty mud puddle and he took off his jacket and placed it on top of the mud puddle so that I wouldn't get my shoes dirty."

"It's all a lie," added Max as he walked into the kitchen, "he's trying to gain your trust before he crushes you like a grape!"

"If you'll pardon my language here," said Monty, "Marshall is a fucking asshole!"

"No he's not! Sure, he was a bad boy at one time, but that's all changed - he's a well mannered boy. You're just judging him on his looks and the way he talks. Why can't you just leave him alone?" Naomi couldn't hold it in any longer, she ran past us and ran up the stairwell to her bedroom.

There was silence in the kitchen until Primula spoke up, "I didn't mean to upset Little Sis, but she has the right to know the truth."

"I'll never understand what she sees in that screwball baka," said Monty, his brother was quick to agree with him.

"She might be seeing a different version of this guy," I said, "it's like Little Sis said, he was a bad boy at one time, but maybe he's changed into a different person. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going upstairs to speak with Little Sis."

No one said a single word as I walked out of the kitchen and up to her room.

"Hey Little Sis, are you okay?" I asked kindly as I knocked on her door, "can I come in?"

"Yes you can," I heard her say with a sad tone in her voice. I turned the door handle and walked into a dark bedroom. Naomi was sitting on her bed with her legs tugged in and looking down to the floor, "I don't believe Marshall's bad anymore, I think he's changed, but no one believes me."

"You just got to give people time and before you know it, they will see that he has changed."

Naomi looked up to me with a surprised look, "do you believe me Big Bro?"

"Yes I do, and so does Kaede," as I was saying this, I sat down next to her on the bed. There was a moment of silence in the room before I spoke up again, "I know just how you feel Naomi," she looked at me a little surprised, mostly because I hardly ever say her actual name unless we're having a serious conversation, "when I was younger, lots of people would say I shouldn't be with a certain girl because of some bad things they might have done before I ever met them or maybe it was because we weren't perfect matches."

"You do know how it feels," Naomi said quietly, "but why do people do that?"

"I don't know, maybe they're just trying to protect us if they think we might be making a mistake by going out with a certain person. Lots of people thought that way about Kaede and I when we started dating - of course, a few tried to seperate us. Do you want to know what kept us together?"

"Yes please."

"We never listened to those people, the only person I listened to was me and Kaede only listened to herself. We decided to be together because it was our choice, no one can tell you how to live your life or what you can and cannot do - the only person who can do that is..."

"Me."

"You got it," I smiled as I placed my left hand on her left shoulder, then I rubbed it softly, "it's probably going to take Primula and the twins some time to get to know the 'new' Marshall that you know because they're thinking about the 'old' Marshall who was bad to the bone, sort to speak. Don't worry though, they'll come around eventually."

"Yeah, you might...no, you are right Big Bro...Matthew. Thank you."

"Hey what are big brothers for?" I smiled, "we're always there to cheer our little sisters up when they are sad."

"And for hugging too?"

"Sure," Naomi came over towards me, she wrapped her arms around me and I wrapped my arms around her. Naomi sobbed some quiet tears for a bit, but cheered after a minute or so, "you okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling better, thanks Matthew."

"My pleasure."

We both got up from the bed and headed off downstairs. Primula was still talking to Kaede, "you know that black sweater I used to wear? Guess who ruined it for good?"

"Big Sis," Naomi said firmly, "just drop it!"

Primula and the twins gasped when they heard this, "I never thought I'd say this but...you tell 'em girl!" called Daisy.

Needless to say for the rest of the night, Primula and the twins hardly said a single word about Marshall's past or the things he did.

The next morning, after getting changed, I was walking down the stairs when I heard the doorbell ring, "I'll get it!" I called. I ran down the rest of the stairs and walked over to the doorway.

I slid the door to the side and who should be on the other side but Marshall, "yo Matty, is the cute chick ready to go?"

"Ah...no she's not, and please just call me Matt instead of Matty."

"Sure, works better for me anyways."

"Hey Marshall, I just have a few questions for you in regards to what happened between you and Primula last year..."

"Say no more, I know what ya're talking about," he said with a heavy sigh, "I did push her into a mud puddle - no wait, I shoved her in and I did destory her sweater, but I think the worst thing I could've done to her was insult about her past after I overheard her talk about where she came from."

"You were a bad boy weren't you? So what changed your behaviour?"

"It has a lot to do with a career day in my classroom back in May where we had a police officer come in to talk to us..."

"Was the officer's name 'Damon Drake'?"

"Yeah, how did ya..."

"I know the guy."

"Oh, well as I was saying, his lesson really got to me and that night I decided that maybe being a 'bad' punk wasn't really me style and all. So I decided to change, but not too much as you can see," he said, I just nodded my head. "Although me attitude changed a bit, lots of people still looked at me as the same troublesome 'punk' I was - except for one."

"Naomi."

"Correct Matt," he said, then he looked inside. I looked too to see Naomi walking up, she was already in her school uniform and she was holding onto her bag, "hey baby, you look cute today."

"Oh stop," she giggled, "you're making me blush."

"Yeah and I like to see ya blush," he chuckled, "hey babe, do you remember how we first met?"

"Yeah I remember..."

Naomi was walking into her classroom, only to find three boys with nasty looks on their faces staring at her and blocking her way in, "ah hello boys, is there a problem?"

"No, no problem at all," they said, "we just want your homework, you see we didn't finish ours last night."

"Well too bad for you cause I'm not giving up my homework."

"Well it's either that or we'll force you to us your homework."

"If you're asking for a fight, then you'll soon regret it..."

"No fighting," they said with a snicker.

Now Naomi was worried, that was until she heard, "get away from her ya punks!" they looked behind them to see a boy with chains wrapped around his waist and had scruffy hair staring at them with a firm look on his face, which of course was Marshall. "You lay one single finger on that cute girl, then you'll soon regret it, cause I will kick the crap out of all of ya and send ya off to the hospital. Do I make myself clear here boys? Or do ya need me to show ya that I'm being serious."

At first, the boys were eager to fight Marshall, but then decided not to cause trouble.

"Fine," the boys groaned as they walked off for their desks.

"Ya okay miss?" Marshall asked kindly.

"Yeah I'm okay, thanks for sticking up for me."

"Ah no problem, any real gentleman would do the same thing...for a cute young lady like yourself I might add."

Naomi blushed when she heard that. Then she blushed a deeper shade of red when Marshall kissed her right hand, "ah...ah...I'm Naomi Fuyou, what's your name?"

"Mine's Marshall Asakura. Hey Naomi, ya busy tonight?"

"Ah not really no, why?"

"Well I was just wondering if ya would like to go out with me tonight. I don't really feel like going home after school, so what do ya say?"

"Sure, I would like that..."

"Well that explains of what you were doing that night," I said as I looked over to Naomi, "you never did call us."

"Yeah sorry about that Big Bro, I just forgot."

"Or maybe he told you not to call," said another voice, it was of course Primula. She stared at Marshall with a firm look, "I know your game Marshall, as Max said it best last night, you're just using her until you're ready to crush her like a grape."

"That's enough Primula!" I said firmly to her.

"It's alright Matt," said Marshall, "like I told Naomi last night, I get worst insults than this. I'll go wait by the gates." And so, Marshall walked off towards the gates just as Kaede came up with three lunch bags.

"Here are your lunches," Kaede said happily.

"Thanks Kaede, smells good," Naomi said with a smile, "anyways, I got to run so I'll see you guys later!" And she ran off to join Marshall.

"He's even managed to turn Little Sis aganist us, but he's not fooling me."

"I don't think he's using Naomi," said Kaede, "I think he has changed from the boy he used to be and now he wants to do all he can to make Naomi happy."

"I couldn't have said it better myself Kaede," I said.

Primula didn't say another word, she excepted her lunch from Kaede, then she and Daisy walked off to meet up with Max and Monty. Naomi and Marshall had already gone.

"I feel like I was experiencing Deja Vu at that moment."

"What do you mean Matthew?"

"Well it has a lot to do with what Primula and the twins said about Marshall, it kinda reminded me of what people used to say to me about Samantha and Chelsea when I used to date them. Believe me when I say this, they said the same exact words Primula and the twins said - that's what I meant when I said I was experiencing Deja Vu. Quite surprising isn't it?"

"Yeah it is," she answered.

"Well anyways, I better head off to work - although I feel like I'm missing something."

"Your lunch?" Kaede asked kindly while holding out my lunch.

"Yeah that's it, thanks Kaede. I don't know what I would do without you," I said, Kaede blushed happily. Before I left though, we kissed on the lips for about one and a half minutes. "I'll see you after work."

"Okay Matthew, I'll see you later...dear." I just blushed when I heard that.

Like always, Kaede waved to me as I got in the truck and had driven off to work.

It was quite a busy day on the show, Al and I did tonnes of demostrations - how many we did, I really have no idea. When the show was done, Al, Sakura and I got started cleaning up the set. Before we did any work though, I heard my cellphone ringing.

"Hello?"

"It's me Matthew," it was Kaede on the other end of the phone.

"Hey Kaede, is something wrong?"

There was a moment of silence before Kaede answered my question, "there's been an accident - it's Marshall. Can you meet up with us at the hospital?"

"Sure Kaede, just give me a few minutes and I'll be there."

After I hung up, I told Al and Sakura about the accident, then I took off for the hospital. When I got there, I asked one of the nurses at the front desk of where I can find Marshall, "he's been taken to Intensive Care Unit," she told me.

And so, I ran down to ICU, after I asked where it was. As I walked up to the waiting room, I saw Kaede there, along with Primula, Daisy, the twins and a very worried looking Naomi.

"Big Bro..." she said as she looked up to me, tears started coming down from her eyes.

"Hey Little Sis, what's going on?"

"It's Marshall, he...he...was hit by a car!"

"What happened?"

"Why not ask Rimu? She knows!" Naomi was now starting to cry. Kaede walked over towards her with a box of tissues while I looked over to Primula.

"Here's what happened..."

Naomi and Marshall were walking along back to the house, holding hands throughout that time when they heard, "get away from my sister!" both of them turned around to see Primula staring at them.

"Why? We're not doing anything bad here," said Marshall.

"That's right, we're just holding hands Big Sis, what's wrong with that?"

"You're holding hands with a lair! He's just using you, why can't you see the truth Little Sis?"

"Funny, I was just going to ask you the same question Big Sis. I keep on telling you, he's not a lair - he's a kind sweet person who likes me for who I am and I like him for who he is!"

"So you like troublemakers who lie, is that it?"

Naomi was about to shout back when they all heard loud tire screeches coming towards them. Primula, Daisy and the twins backed off.

"NAOMI MOVE!" Marshall shouted and in an instant, he shoved Naomi out of the way. She got away safely, but Marshall was not so lucky - he was hit by the car as it ran smack into the wall.

"MARSHALL!" cried Naomi, "someone help him!"

As soon as she had finished telling me everything, Primula went quiet. A doctor came out to see us, "how is he doctor?" Kaede asked. It was going to be Naomi's question, but she was all in tears at the moment.

"Well the good news is that none of his bones were broken, but the bad news is that he lost a lot of blood in the accident and...he's in a coma right now."

"No," Naomi groaned.

"Are you all friends of him?"

"I'm his girlfriend," Naomi said with some tears in her eyes, "can we go in to see him?"

"Not right now little missy, but we'll let you when you can go in okay?"

"Okay."

Once the doctor was out of sight, Naomi broke down once again. I walked up to her and gave her a hug to help calm her down. As for Primula and the twins, they said nothing at all.


	32. Hurtful Moments

Okay my friends, here now is the continuation of where we left off in the last episode. Quite a shocker huh, the accident scene actually came up just before the story was completed. That's all I have to say for now, hope you enjoy part 2.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 32: Hurtful Moments**_

After about five minutes or so, Naomi finally stopped crying. Once she did, she started yelling at Primula, "it's your fault that Marshall is in ICU!" she snapped, "if you hadn't stopped us from walking, I'm sure Marshall and I would be eating at a resturant right now."

"I was trying to tell you that Marshall is a bad boy and you need to be careful around him. Trust me on this..."

"I don't trust you at all!"

"I'm just saying that you can't trust this boy, he'll hurt badly when you least expect it and he'll kick you when you're down!"

"He's not like that anymore, he changed his ways and became a better person!" Naomi snapped back, "if anything, you should forgive and forget what happened!"

"He says he's changed, but I bet that he hasn't, he properly just as bad as ever and is just waiting for the right moment to strike!"

"He wouldn't!" Naomi was so mad that she punched Primula in the right arm, "Marshall would never do that, and besides even if he was bad...he can't do anything right now, and it's all your fault!" Naomi punched Primula on the right arm again.

"Oh no this isn't going to be good," Kaede groaned.

I stepped in before a fight could really start, "alright that's enough from both of you! Primula, why you and Max go do something else for a while okay?"

"Fine," Primula huffed, "come on Max."

"Alright Primula," he sighed.

As he and Primula were leaving, I heard Primula say, "that bad boy may have Little Sis fooled, but he'll never get me to believe him. I know he's lying."

I looked back over to Little Sis, "you okay?"

"Yeah I'm okay, I'm just both sad that Marshall is in the hospital and mad at Big Sis because she won't believe me when I say he's not a bad boy and for putting him in ICU."

"Nobody is to blame for the accident Little Sis, these things happen. As for Primula, I suggest you ignore her for the time being okay? Like I said last night, it'll take her a while to except the new Marshall."

"Yeah I know," Naomi sighed unhappily, "I just can't believe he's in ICU and the doctors won't let me in to see him."

"They'll let you in soon," said Kaede, "they're probably doing some tests with him right now and cleaning the blood off of him."

"That is what we're doing," said a voice from behind Naomi. It was the same doctor from before, "we're doing all we can for your friend."

"When can we go in to see him?" Naomi asked.

"Just give us a few more minutes and then you can go in, we're just cleaning him up. Now little missy, I would like to ask you if you got his family's phone number."

"I don't have it," Naomi sighed sadly, "even if you did call the Asakuras, they wouldn't show up - from what Marshall told me before, his family doesn't really care about him, not even his own brother Curtis."

"They're that bad huh?" Monty asked.

"Afraid so."

A nurse came out, "you can come in now," she said sweetly. Both Naomi and I followed the nurse to room where they had Marshall. Naomi went in first and gasped in complete horror, she looked like she wanted to cry again.

"Oh my gosh!" I gasped. Marshall had tonnes of bruises all over and a few scars on him too.

"Trust me he looked worse when he was brought in," said the nurse, "he's quite lucky to survive this accident. I'm assuming that you've been told that he lost a lot of blood?"

"Yes we were told that earlier," I said, "we were also told that none of his bones have been broken."

"I was quiet surprised myself cause in accidents similar to this one, bones are usually broken. Anyways, we've stitched up all his cuts and cleaned him off and now all we can do is to keep him here for observation until he wakes up. Oh and Little missy..."

Naomi looked over to the nurse, "I'm not sure if you'll want this, but we found it in one of his pockets."

Naomi looked like she really was going to burst into tears - for it was a picture of herself and Marshall, it was mostly covered in blood. "Marshall," she sobbed, then she ran past us and down the hallway.

"She's very close to that boy," I said to the nurse, "he's her first curse."

"Ah I understand perfectly, I know just how that little girl feels. I might suggest going after her, we'll keep an eye on Marshall Asakura."

"Thank you," I said to the nurse and ran off after Naomi.

I ran threw the hallways until I finally caught up with Naomi sitting in a chair just outside of the main waiting room of the hospital, the very same waiting room I waited in when Kaede was in the hospital following that knucklehead attack. Tears were pouring down from her eyes as she stared at the bloody picture.

"Marshall and I got our picture taken during one of our dates," Naomi sobbed quietly, "I had a great time with him that day...oh Marshall." And she burst into more tears.

"Here Little Sis," she looked to her left and saw that I was standing next to her with some tissues in my hand.

"Thanks Big Bro," she said quietly while excepting the tissues, "I'm sorry for running off like that but I didn't want anyone to see me cry."

"It's okay Little Sis, I understand how you feel," I got down till I was at eye contact with her, "it's okay to cry alright? Heck, I cry every now and then."

"I just have a lot to cry about tonight - first Marshall ends up in ICU and I end up having a fight with Big Sis in the waiting room. The last time I cried this much was probably when you guys brought me into the family...only difference is that I'm sad right now."

"Naomi," I said seriously, "everything's going to be okay alright? Marshall is in good hands here, they'll take great care of him and before you know it, you two will be walking out of here while holding hands."

"But when?"

"I don't know, maybe later tonight or tomorrow, next week or next month."

"Way to lift my spirits up Big Bro," she groaned, then she gasped, "what if he doesn't remember me? I've heard that in situations like this, the person usually forgets everything, including who they are."

"Yeah I heard that too, but we won't know for sure if he has any memory of this accident or you until he wakes up..." Naomi sighed unhappily, "but I'm sure Marshall will remember you, there are just some memories you'll never lose."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yes I do," I nodded, "I bet you that when he wakes up, he'll remember you right away and he'll ask you if you want to go out with him."

For the first time since I arrived at the hospital, I saw Naomi's little smile return. She got up from her chair and ran up to me to give me a hug, then I heard some quiet sobbing.

"Big Bro, can I ask you for a little favour?"

"Sure Little Sis, what is it?"

"After you get off work, do you mind picking me up and bringing me here? I want to be with him every day."

"Of course I'll bring you here every day Naomi," I said seriously, "you have my word."

"Thank you Matthew," she said while crying. We hugged in that waiting room until she had cried out the last of her tears, then we walked off back to ICU where everyone was waiting for us.

"I need to say a few things to Marshall, and then we can go," Naomi said to them.

"I'll go in with you Naomi," Daisy said kindly.

"So will I," Monty spoke up. (I think he now sees that he was wrong about Marshall, and I bet Max thinks the same way too.)

"Thanks you two," and so Daisy and Monty followed Naomi into ICU. They were in complete shock when they saw Marshall. Naomi walked up to him, trying hard to show a smile, "hey Marshall - it's your red headed babe Naomi. I hope you'll get better soon and just know that I'll come here every day to see you, I promise you that."

She grabbed his left hand and rubbed it softly with her thumb, "well I better get going, I'll see you tomorrow Marshall." She turned, but didn't walk away - not just yet. She looked back over to Marshall and blew him a kiss, then she walked over to where we were, "we better get going."

"Right," before we left though, I spoke to the nurse, "should anything come up, give us a call okay?"

"Sure thing," the nurse nodded. I wrote down our phone number and our cell phone numbers too, just in case. I handed the nurse the piece of paper and then went to join Kaede, Monty and our two sisters.

At eight that evening, I was telling my friends on the Sodor Island Forums of what happened today, "poor Naomi," said Sierracat27's message, "she must be devasted after seeing an accident like that."

"Yeah she was devasted, especially after we were finally allowed to see Marshall. He looked like he went five rounds with George Foreman and lost."

"That bad huh?" asked Warrior's message, "still there's one thing I don't understand, why is Naomi saying that it's Primula's fault. After all, it was an accident, nobody is to blame here."

"I know that, but she thinks that if Primula hadn't started that argument, then Marshall wouldn't have been hit by the car."

"I suggest you keep your eye on both of them now Matthew," advised Metamorphical's message, "if Naomi is feeling that way, then she will try to get into another fight with Rimu and this time, I'm sure that one of them is going to end up joining Marshall in the hospital."

Anime Boy, Danparker and Jamesfan all told me the same thing.

"Don't worry, I'll keep my eyes on both of them," I replied back.

After chatting with my friends for a while, I read another Extended Railway Series book for about twenty minutes, then I logged off and shut down my computer. Kaede came in just as I going to get changed.

"Hey Kaede, there's something I've been meaning to ask you, how did you get the hospital? I mean it is a long walk from here to there."

"When I was told of the accident from Max, I called Lisa to come pick us up."

"Okay...but wait, where was Lisa? I didn't see her at all at the hospital."

"She said that she had to go, she was already late for a meeting, she didn't stay long enough for me to say 'thank you'." Before Kaede could say anymore, we heard our phone ring, "I'll get it. Hello? Oh hi Lisa. Well actually no everything is not okay with Marshall, he's badly bruised and he's in a coma, thankfully no bones were broken. Naomi is okay, she's sitting in her room right now and reading a manga. Okay, I'll tell her that...oh and Lisa, thank you for giving us a ride to the hospital. Okay, talk to you later."

"So what did Lisa have to say?" I asked.

"She said that if Naomi ever needs a ride to the hospital to see Marshall, she can always call her, she'll be more than glad to take her there..."

"Who was that on the phone?" A little voice asked from behind our door.

Kaede opened the door and found Naomi standing there on the other side of it, "that was Lisa, she was calling to see if everything is okay," Kaede answered, "she also said that if you ever need a ride to the hospital, you can always call her."

"Really? Big Bro made the same promise earlier today, isn't that right Big Bro?"

"That's right Little Sis, I did make that promise and I'm going to keep true to my word. But if there are some days where I can't take you, you can always call Lisa okay?"

"Okay," she nodded, "well I'm going back to bed, I'll see you two in the morning."

"See you in the morning, have a good night sleep."

As she was walking off back to her room, Naomi muttered, "if I ever get any sleep."

Once Naomi had gone into her room, Kaede closed the door, then we got changed, climbed into bed and went off to sleep.

At around five thirty the next morning (October 5th 2011), Kaede and I were still sleeping when we heard someone pounding on our door, "it's got to be Little Sis," I thought to myself.

"Matt! Kaede! You better come out here!" It was Daisy's voice.

Right away, I jumped out of the bed and nearly tripped on the bed sheets. I unlocked the door locks and opened the door, "what's going on?" I asked. Daisy didn't need to answer me, for the answer was just down the hallway - it was Naomi and Primula, they were fighting. Only this time they were really fighting with their fists.

"Oh my," Kaede gasped when she came out, "Rimu! Naomi! Stop it!"

I ran up to them and stood in between them, "stop it you two seriously! What is going on? Why are you fighting?"

"Why not ask the little red head?" suggested Primula, "She's the one who started it!"

"Only after you started insulting Marshall again! How can you be so cruel?"

"I'm not being cruel, he's the one being..."

"Stop it right now, both of you!" I snapped while interupting Primula, "we can't have you two fighting all the time. If you can't get along, then we've got a real problem here."

"We wouldn't have a problem if Little Sis dumped that lying baka," snapped Primula, "before he..."

"Did I not just say to stop it?" I stared angerily at Primula. "Since you two can't get along right now, I think the best way to prevent you two from beating each other up to seperate you for a while."

"Seperate?" Naomi, Kaede and Primula asked in unison.

"What do you mean by that Matt?" Daisy asked.

"Simple, either Primula or Naomi moves out for a while until they get along."

"What? Matthew you can't be serious," Primula exclaimed, "I'm not going anywhere, this is my home!"

"Well it's my home too!" said Naomi angerily, "but I'm willing to give it a try."

"What do you think Kaede?" I asked while looking back over to my wife.

"I don't know, I don't want to see either one of them move out...but if it means stopping the fights around here, then...I guess one of them should move out."

"And I know who it should be," said Naomi, "Big Sis!"

"Oh really? And where am I suppose to go?"

"Why not ask Lisa or Max? I'm sure either one of them will be willing to take you in."

Both of them were silent for less than a minute, then Primula headed off for the stairs, "I'll call them," she sighed, "I'll start with Max." Naomi huffed angerily and walked back into her room, slamming the door behind her.

"Geez, you don't need to slam your door Little Sis!" I called to her, she didn't reply back.

Less than three minutes later, Primula came up to speak to us, "Max and his family are willing to take me in for a while," she said, "they said I can have the spare guest room. Tell Little Sis that I'll only come back here to get some of my things."

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" I asked.

"I'm not going to speak to her," Primula groaned. She opened up all her drawers and packed up her clothes into her suitcases. Once she was done there, she headed off downstairs, "I'll get something on my way to school."

"Don't you want your lunch Rimu?" Kaede asked, "cause if you give me a few minutes, I can make it for you."

"Alright, I guess I can wait a little bit before I go." With that confirmed, Kaede followed Primula down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Once Kaede had made Primula's lunch, the little purple haired girl left for school. It was only after she left that Naomi came out of her to eat breakfast with the rest of us. Then after we were done eating and the dishes had been washed, Naomi and Daisy left with the twins, who arrived just before we had finished eating.

"I know it's not going to be the same without Primula here," I was saying to Kaede, "but it might be the only way to keep them from fighting."

"I guess so, but what about when they are at school?"

"I've asked Daisy and the twins to keep an eye on them and make sure they don't get into any fights. Besides, they can't fight at school with all those teachers around."

"That's true," Kaede nodded in agreement. She walked off back to the kitchen and came back with a lunch box all wrapped up, "here's your lunch Matthew, have a good day at work."

"I will and you have a good day Kaede," I gave her a soft kiss on the right of her face, "if anything comes up involving Marshall or Primula and Naomi, give me a call okay?"

"Okay Matthew, I will," before I left, Kaede stood up on her toes and kissed me on the lips.

We kissed for a minute, then I headed out for the truck. Like always, Kaede waved to me until I was in my truck and was out of sight.

When I arrived at the set of 'Tech Corner', I saw Sakura talking with Michael. "Hey Al, when did Michael arrive?"

"He arrived five minutes ago," Al answered, "he said he had something important to talk to Sakura about and they've been talking none stop. So how's that kid Marshall doing?"

"Well let's see, none of his bones were broken, he's got a few stitches and he's in a coma. Oh and Little Sis blames Primula for what happened, which caused those two to get into a serious fight this morning and now Primula is moving in with Max and his family until she and Naomi can get along. Hope that answers your question."

"Yes it does," Al said quietly, "so are you okay with Primula moving out?"

"Not really, but it might be the only way to keep her and Little Sis from beating the crap out of each other. Plus I've asked Daisy and the twins to keep an eye on those two to make sure they don't fight."

"It's that bad huh?" I jumped when I heard that question. I looked to my right and saw Michael and Sakura standing near the desk.

"Is everybody going to scare the heck out of me?"

"Sorry bro, I didn't mean to spook you, we're just concerned, right Sakura?" he asked, Sakura nodded her head.

"Is Rimu really moving out of the house?" Sakura asked.

"Yes she is, but it's a temporary move until she and Little Sis stop fighting and get along with each other again. It's not easy though, Primula seems convinced that Marshall is still a bad boy and refuses to listen to anyone who says otherwise, and now Little Sis is convinced that Primula is the reason Marshall is in the hospital - so it might take a while before those patch things up. Now I hope you don't mind if I ask this, but I was wondering - what were you two talking about?"

"Well Michael and I were just about going to New York City...tomorrow," said Sakura.

"What? You guys are going to New York City?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes," Michael nodded, "I was just telling Sakura that I've got to meet up with my family in New York for a bit, so I asked her if she and Rose would like to come with me."

"And I said I would love to go with him," smiled Sakura, "once the show is done for the day, we'll go back to my place and ask Rose if she would like to go...but I'm sure I know her answer. She'll probably say 'Yay! I get to go to New York with my big sis and her boyfriend!'."

"Yeah that's probably what the little one will say," chuckled Michael.

"So how long are you guys going?" Al asked.

"We're going for two and a half weeks."

"So what time are you guys leaving for New York?" I asked.

"We'll be leaving at Nine A.M.," Sakura answered, "now if you'll excuse me, I need to go talk to Mr. Quinten," with that said, Sakura walked off the set and over to Mr. Quinten's office.

After the long working day, I went to Naomi's school to pick her up, then we went to the hospital for a few hours. Naomi told Marshall about her day at school, "do you think he can hear me?" Naomi asked me.

"I'm sure he can," I nodded, "And I'm sure he loves hearing you talking about your day."

"I sure hope he can hear me," she added quietly.

After the visit, Naomi and I returned back to the house. We found Monty sitting in Primula's chair, "you two just missed her," he said, "she left about three minutes ago."

"She didn't say very much," said Daisy, "besides 'Can you help me with my suitcases' and 'see you later'."

" 'See you later', that's all I would say to her," grumbled Naomi as she sat down at her usual spot.

"Oh and just to let you guys know, Primula's not staying in the guest room at my house," said Monty, "my mom's grandparents are visiting our house, so they'll be using the guestroom. So I offered up my bed for Primula and I asked Kaede if I can stay here..."

"And I said it would be okay if it was alright with you Matthew."

"Well of course it's okay by me, Monty can stay here for as long as he wants."

"Thanks Matthew," he said, "is it okay though if I sleep in the same room with Daisy?"

"You don't even need to ask Monty, the answer is yes, you can sleep in the same room with Daisy - as long as it's okay with her," I said as I looked over to my little sister, who nodded her head happily. After that was confirmed, Daisy and Monty left the kitchen to get his suitcases and bring them up to Daisy's room.

"My friends on the Sodor Island Forums are not going to believe me when I tell them about today," I thought quietly to myself.

"Matthew?" Kaede's voice broke me out of my thoughts, "are you okay?"

"Yes I'm okay Kaede, I'm sorry if I scared you there, I just have a lot on my mind. Now is there anything you would like me to do?"

"Yes, can you set up the table? I'm almost done cooking up dinner."

"Sure thing Kaede honey," I said as I went to start setting up the table, and of course as you can guess, we both blushed bright red. Although, we both sighed unhappily as we looked over to Primula's spot at the table - this would be the first time she wouldn't be joining us for dinner and until she and Little Sis patched things up, she won't be joining us for quite a while.


	33. Broken Hearts

Quite a lot of shockers in the last episode huh? Marshall's in a coma, Primula moves out and Michael, Sakura and Rose are going off to New York. Man this second season is just full of surprises right? Anyways, I'm proud to present the next installment which involves a few more characters that hardly get the spotlight shining on them, one of which is former knucklehead 'Ryan Mason'. As a reminder, the rating is same as always with swearing included and this chapter's date is Thursday October 6th 2011. Enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 33: Broken Hearts**_

After I got out of work, I went back to the house to pick up Naomi and Kaede, who wanted to come along. As for Daisy and Monty, they were hanging out with Primula and Max.

When we arrived, Kaede gasped when she saw Marshall, "Oh my gosh!"

Naomi walked up to his bed and placed her right hand on his left shoulder, "hey Marshall, it's me...your red headed babe...Naomi. I'm here, just like I promised. Now you might not be happy to hear that I got into a fight with my big sister, and I haven't spoken to her since she moved out...it's a long story to get into. Why don't I tell you about my day at school?"

Just before she began, she heard a cellphone going off, "oh that's mine," I said, "I'll be back in a minute."

I walked away and answered my phone in the waiting room, "hello?"

"Hey buddy, what's up?"

"Oh hey Patrick. Well in answer to your question, I'm at the hospital right now."

"You're at the hospital, are you okay?"

"Yes I'm okay and so is Kaede - it's Naomi's first crush, Marshall. Didn't you hear, he's in a coma right now."

"Yeah I heard about it, Naomi told Shiori and she told Yukie, who told me. I also heard that Primula moved out of the house - why did she move anyways?"

"It's a long story," I sighed, "so what's up?"

"Well I was just wondering if you guys would like to hang out with Yukie, Shiori and yours truely of course - I've got a few new items here I would like to show you."

"Well I'll have to check with Little Sis and Kaede first, then I'll call you back okay?"

"Sure thing buddy. Talk to you later."

After he hung up, I set my cellphone on vibrate, then I went to rejoin Kaede and Naomi. Throughout the entire time Naomi was telling Marshall about her day, she tried to hold back her tears and keep showing a smile.

"A lot of our friends were asking about you," she said, "when I told them you're here, they asked me to tell you this, 'get well soon'."

We stayed until around five thirty when we were ready to go. Before we left though, Naomi walked up to Marshall and kissed him on the left side of his face, "I'll be back tomorrow, I promise." She brushed some hair away from his eyes and kissed him on the forehead. After that, she turned and walked out to join us.

"Do you think he knows I kissed him?" she asked us.

"I'm sure he knows you kissed him," Kaede answered, "That was real sweet of you Naomi." Kaede looked over to me, "who was it that called you earlier?"

"Oh that was Patrick, he was wondering if we would like to hang with him for a bit?"

"All three of us?" Naomi asked.

"Yeah, he also said that Yukie and Shiori are hanging out with him."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Naomi said almost in a cheerful way, "let's get going!"

"You're not even going to ask Kaede if she wants to go?" I asked.

"Oh sorry about that. So Kaede, can we go hang out with Patrick, Shiori and Yukie?"

"Of course we can hang out with them," she answered, "it'll be nice to talk to them and see how they're doing." With that confirmed, I got out my cellphone and called Patrick to let him know we were on our way.

Just before we got into the truck, we heard Kaede's cellphone ring, "Hello? Oh hi Rimu. Ah actually we're just heading out to Patrick's place. Ah, I don't know if we're busy tomorrow night...alright once I find out, I'll give you a call." Kaede looked back over to Naomi, "would you like to talk to Naomi for a bit? Yes she's with us? Oh, you don't huh?"

"Figures," Naomi muttered.

"Okay, oh and Rimu, can you tell Monty and Daisy that we're going to be late getting home? Okay thanks, talk to you later. Bye."

"So what did _she_ want?" Naomi asked angerily.

"She was wondering if we would like to hang out with her tonight."

"Most likely you two, she would never invite me," Naomi grunted.

"And to think those two were the best of friends at one time," I thought to myself.

We arrived at Patrick's house about seven minutes after we left the hospital. We were greeted by Patrick, who was waiting by the front door, "glad you guys could make it," he smiled, "Yukie and Shiori are waiting downstairs for us."

Once we had taken off our shoes, Kaede, Naomi and I followed Patrick down to his basement - which is his entertainment room.

"As I told you earlier Matthew, there's a few surprises I wanted to show you guys. First up, my new pool table..."

We gasped when we saw it - it was a car pool table! Trust me when I say this, those things are rare and hard to find. It looks like one of those older cars from the 60's, but instead of having seats and an engine, it's a pool table.

"Where the heck did you find something like this?" I asked in shock.

"I have my ways," he chuckled, "and that's all I'm going to tell you, so don't ask again."

"Fine," I sighed.

"I like the bar," said Naomi, who was being a little more cheerful than she was when we left the hospital, "how long did it take you to set this thing up?"

"Almost a fricken month," Patrick grunted angerily, "Ryan, Emily, Yukie and I had a lot of problems with the damn thing, but I have to say it was well worth it."

"What would you guys like?" a familar voice asked from behind the counter, it was Shiori.

"Just water for me Shiori," I said, "what about you Kaede?"

"Just water for me too," she answered. Shiori went into the fridge and got out a pitcher of water, poured some water into bar-style glasses and slid them down to us. "What will you have Naomi?" Kaede asked.

"Just a soda - you know what I would like," she said while looking over to Shiori.

"I sure do," she said.

Shiori got out a cherry soda for Naomi while Patrick set up the pool table, "oh hey, did you guys hear that Emily and Ryan broke up?"

"What?" Kaede and I exclaimed, "when did this happen?" Kaede asked.

"Why did they break up?" I asked, "I thought they were doing so well."

"They broke up just a couple of days ago," Yukie answered, "we asked Ryan why they broke up, but he never did say."

"So how is Ryan doing?" Kaede asked.

"Well he's a little bit depressed right now, but he's not as bad as Michael was. Speaking of which, is it true what I heard, is he, Sakura and Rose really going to New York?"

"Actually, they left this morning," I answered, "now I would like to ask, since Emily and Ryan were living together in the same house at one time, does this mean Emily is going back to Stouffville?"

"Yes," Yukie nodded, "actually she left this morning."

"Poor Ryan," Kaede said quietly, she looked over to me, "when Destiny dumped Michael, did she move away too? I can't remember if she did or not, it's been a while since we've seen her."

"Yeah it has been a while...you know though, I have no idea if she did or not, I should've asked Michael before he left - oh well, I'm sure we'll find out someday..."

"Yeah like when you run into her!" Naomi called cheekily, "quite literally!"

"You'll never let me live it down will you?" I looked behind me and saw both Naomi and Shiori giggling softly.

"Let me show you some of the other games Patrick has here," Shiori said to Naomi, "he's got a lot of original arcade games...he's got quite an amazing collection."

While Naomi and Shiori went to play those games, I played a little pool with Patrick while Yukie and Kaede sat down near the bar and talked about what's been going on most recently. In the midst of our thrid game, someone else dropped by for a visit.

"Hey Ryan!" I called, "how's it going buddy?"

"Fine I guess," he sighed, "don't mind me Patrick, I'm just going to get me a soda."

"Sure thing Ryan," Patrick called back to Ryan, "though next time you might want to ring the doorbell."

"I did, but nobody answered for a long time - I think your doorbell is broken."

"Oh for pete's sake," groaned Patrick, "not again. Damn wires must've come loose again. After this game, I'll go up and fix it again - I'm sure that I can beat you this time, once I sink that eight ball." Patrick tried to sink it, but it didn't go in, "oh dammit!"

"You were close Patrick," I chuckled. I hit the white ball, which hit the eight ball and sunk it, "but not close enough."

"Double Dammit!" snapped Patrick, "well I better go fix that doorbell before someone else comes walking in without me knowing."

So while Patrick was upstairs, I walked over to the bar to speak to Ryan, "how are you feeling buddy?"

"Well I'm a little depressed, but I'm okay - every day I wake up, I get up and go out to live my life to the fullest."

"Good to know. And hey, I'm sorry to hear that you and Emily broke up."

"It's alright," Ryan sighed quietly, "I'm sure I'll that one girl I can my life with forever - still though, I'm going to miss her."

"Just as I thought!" Patrick called as he ran back downstairs, "it was a loose wire. Now, who's up for another round of pool?"

"I'll play you Patrick," said Ryan, "I'm going to whoop your ass quicker than you say 'Two and a Half Man'." They played a couple of rounds and then Yukie played aganist Patrick. At around seven, Patrick ordered us a couple of large pepperoni pizzas. While we ate the pizzas, Patrick had one of his TVs on and playing 'Two and a Half Man' Season 5 DVD disc 3.

We continued to hang out with Patrick, Ryan, Yukie and Shiori until eight thirty when it was time to go home. Naomi was so tired that I had to carry her on my back all the way to the truck.

"Thanks for inviting us over," Kaede said kindly to Patrick, "we had a great time."

I nodded in agreement, then I looked over to Ryan, "if you ever want to talk or hang out, just give us a call okay?"

"I got it, but I'll be okay Matthew."

"We'll see you later!" Kaede and I called to them. They waved to us until we had gotten into the truck and had driven away from Patrick's house.

When we arrived, we were greeted by Daisy and Monty, "we just got in ourselves," said Daisy, "is Naomi okay?"

"Yeah she's okay, she's just tired - she's had a long day." I took Naomi up to her room, then I placed her on her bed very carefully, as not to wake her up, then I went downstairs to speak to Daisy again, "so how's Primula doing?"

"Not so good," she said quietly, "although it's been two days since she moved out, she really misses us."

"Does that include Naomi?" Kaede asked.

"Yes that does include Naomi, Rimu asked me not to say that to you two, but I don't believe in keeping these things from you guys. Sadly, I don't think she's willing to talk to Naomi just yet, she said and I quote, 'I'll only talk to her when she stops seeing that bad boy'."

I sighed unhappily, "and the fight continues."

"Getting on a different topic here, did you two have a good time at Patrick's place?"

"We did, you should've seen his new entertainment room, it's got a bar, several arcade games and a car pool table."

"You're kidding," Daisy exclaimed, "I heard those things are hard to find, how the heck did Patrick find one of those?"

"He never said and I doubt he'll ever tell us," I chuckled, but then I spoke seriously, "we also found out that Ryan and Emily broke up a couple of days ago."

"Oh no, poor Ryan, is he okay?"

"Yeah he's okay, he said he's going to miss Emily as she's moved back to Stouffville, but he's still going to live his every day life to the fullest."

"That's good - oh and before I forget, give Rimu a call, she really wants to talk to you guys." She turned and headed off for her room.

Kaede walked over to the phone and dailed Max and Monty's phone number - after 10 seconds or so, someone answered and Kaede asked if she could speak to Primula. Before Primula answered, Kaede turned on the 'speaker' function of the phone so that way we could both talk to her.

"Hello?"

"Hi Rimu, it's Kaede and Matthew."

"Hey Primula, how are you doing?"

"Okay I guess," she answered, "it's good to hear your voices again, I really miss you guys. So can you two come over tomorrow night?"

"Of course we'll come over," said Kaede, "is six O'clock a good time to come over?"

"Of course it's a good time," she answered, "I'll see you two tomorrow."

"We'll see you tomorrow," Kaede and I said in unison.

Before she hung up, we heard Primula sigh unhappily, "I miss hearing you speak in unison...see you tomorrow," she said before hanging up.

The next afternoon, after visiting Marshall in the hospital, I took Naomi back to the house where Kaede was waiting for us, "thanks again for taking me to the hospital Big Bro," said Naomi, "I really appreciate you doing this."

"Oh it's my pleasure Little Sis," I said kindly, "now both Kaede and I are going to be out for a while, so if you need us, just give us a call okay?"

"Okay, have fun...I only wish I knew where you two were going to. Oh well, have fun!" With that said, she ran off back to the house.

Kaede climbed into the truck and then we drove off for Primula's 'temporary' home.

As we pulled up to the house, we were greeted by a happy face - it was Primula. She ran up to Kaede and gave her a hug, then she ran up to me to give me a hug, "it's good to see you two," she said.

"And it's good to see you too Rimu," Kaede said kindly.

"It's only been a few days, but it seems like months since I last saw you two. Anyways, come on in." And so we followed Primula into the house.

"Are you the only one here Rimu?"

"Nope, Max is here too, I think he's changing Kelsey's diaper."

"Yeah that's what I'm doing," called a familar voice from another room, it was Max, "I'll join in a few minutes once I finish changing little Kelsey Akizuki's diaper!"

"So that's Max and Monty's last name," I thought to myself, "boy do I feel stupid for not asking earlier."

Primula lead both Kaede and I to the living room, we gasped when we saw it, it was twice as big as ours. "Make yourselves comfortable, I'll be back with some drinks."

"Thank you Rimu!" Kaede called to her.

No sooner had Primula left the room then Max came in with Kelsey in his arms, "she's all clean and ready for bed," he said cheerfully, "I'm going to take her up to her crib, then I'll be right back down."

"Okay Max," Kaede and I called in unison.

"Alright sis, let's go - it's bedtime for you little one," Kelsey giggled and let out a huge yawn. He turned and walked slowly and quietly away from the living room, just as Primula returned with a tray and four glasses of water.

"He's going to be a while," she said.

"What do you mean by that?" Kaede asked.

"Kelsey won't let Max go unless he blows a rasberry on her stomach and sing her a lullaby...you know, he's actually got a good singing voice just like you do Matthew."

"You don't say," I said while raising an eyebrow, "we learn something new everyday."

"That's true," Primula smiled, but that smile soon faded away, "so how's Little Sis doing?"

"She's doing okay, she's still upset that Marshall is in the hospital...just between the three of us here, last night I heard her crying and I think it was because she misses you."

"Well I miss her too."

"Primula, why do you keep saying Marshall is still a bad boy?"

"It's just hard to forget what that boy did to me, remember he destoryed my favourite sweater, shoved me into a mud puddle and...well you know it all."

"Yes we do," I nodded, "but we also know of what he's done for Little Sis ever since they started dating. For example; he defended her from some bullies, placed his own jacket on a mud puddle so that she wouldn't have to walk in it and let's not forget that he shoved her out of the way when that car came at them."

"I haven't forgotten, but still..."

"I think there's something you've forgotten already Primula, you've forgotten something I often say 'Forgive and Forget'."

"I haven't forgotten that either, but I think you have."

"What?"

"Well let's see - you haven't spoken to your parents since the last time you spoke to them. You three get into a huge fight and now you refuse to call them - they don't even know that Kaede is pregnant."

"Okay you got me there," I groaned, "sometimes I don't follow my own advice. Dammit," I muttered under my breath.

"Holding onto a grudge isn't good Rimu," said Kaede, "as you know, I held onto a grudge aganist Rin for a long time when we were kids, that was until I discovered the truth," Kaede took in a deep breath and then continued, "after that, I was worried that Rin would a grudge aganist me for what I did to him. But he didn't, he forgave me and forgot everything bad I ever did to him and because he did, we've been friends ever since."

"Well said Kaede," I smiled, just as Max came back into the living room. I looked back over to Primula, "Nobody is perfect Primula, we all make our fair share of mistakes, but we try to make up for what we did - and when you think about it, that's what Marshall's been doing all this time."

"He certainly proved he's not bad when he saved Naomi," added Max.

Primula looked down to the floor ashamed, "all I have to say now is...if you continue to hold onto this grudge, then not only will you never see the new improved Marshall we've been seeing, but your friendship with Little Sis will forever be broken. In fact, if Little Sis ever saw you, then she would probably want to beat the living crap out of you."

"Well I don't want that," Primula said quietly, "I still want to have a friendship with Little Sis, but Marshall..."

"You don't need to make your decision now Primula, just think it over okay?"

"Alright, I'll think it over...change of subject here, I ran into Emily a couple of days ago."

"You did?" Kaede and I asked in unison.

"Yeah, I was just walking down by the dockyards and...

As she walked along, she saw Emily waiting by the dockside, "oh hey Rimu," called Emily, "what are you doing out here?"

"I'm just out for a walk," she answered.

"You don't look so good, did you get any sleep last night?"

"No I didn't, I'm not used to sleeping in a different bed." Emily looked at Primula with a confused, "it's a long story."

"Well you better tell me now cause in less than an hour, I'm going to be on the next boat back to Canada."

"Why? Does it have anything to do with your family?"

"No it has nothing to do with my family, I'm just going back to get a new job, get a new life...and a new boyfriend too," Emily sighed then said, "Ryan and I broke up."

"What?"

"Yeah, we just weren't meant for each other Rimu, so I'm going back to start a new life and maybe find the one I can spend forever with. I'm sure one of these days I'll come back here, maybe for a visit or maybe to move here. Only time will tell."

"We're all going to miss you Emily, and I speak for everyone we know."

"Oh that's so sweet of you to say, I'm going to miss everybody too. Tell them that I said 'good bye for now' okay?" she asked, Primula promised, "so what's going on with you huh?"

And so Primula told Emily everything that's been going on lately until the ship arrived. They said their good byes one last time, then Emily walked on board. Even from where she was, Primula could see tears coming down from Emily's eyes.

"She's already missing Ryan and this city," Primula thought to herself.

The ship's horn blew, then it pulled away from the dock and out towards the ocean. Primula waved to Emily until the ship was out of sight, then she headed off back to her 'temporary' home.

"Well it explains where you were," said Max, "I come downstairs to check on you and you're nowhere to be seen."

"I'm sorry Max, I just wanted to go out for a walk, I didn't mean to make you worry."

"Nah it's okay Primula," he said with a smile on his face. We heard a couple of voices call out for Max, "excuse me a minute here," he said and walked out of the room - he returned quite soon, "that's my parents, they just came in. Now I would like to ask, are you guys hungry?"

"Yes," Kaede and I answered in unison, "I haven't eaten since lunchtime," said Kaede.

"Same here," I answered.

"In that case, since my parents just came in, why don't we go out to dinner - or do you two have other plans?"

"We don't have any other plans," Kaede said, "we would love to go out to dinner with you two."

"In that case, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!"

"I'll be with you in a minute Max," said Primula, "I just need to get a sweater."

"Sure thing Primula."

As Primula was walking out of the room, I saw some tears pouring from her eyes. She must be feeling homesick by now and she must really miss spending time with us, especially our little red head of the family, Naomi.


	34. Double Date

And so my writing spree continues with the next installment of Our Kinda Life. Things are finally calming down in the story, well - sort of, Primula and Naomi are still not talking to each other and Marshall is still in the hospital. Anyways, in this episode, Matthew and Kaede go out on a double date with Nerine and Daryl, as you may know, they haven't had a lot of moment in the spotlight, so I decided to bring them into this episode alongside 'Matthew' and 'Kaede'. Now, this chapter's date starts on Saturday October 8th 2011, the rating is still the same as always as there is some swearing included. Anyhow, that's enough chatter from me for now, here now is the 34th episode of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 34: Double Date**_

Once again as per usual, the darn stupid alarm clock woke me up at around four thirty in the morning, I reached over to get it, but before I could get it, someone else had shut it off, and that someone was my sweet beautiful wife Kaede, "you always seem to get to that clock before I do," I chuckled, she just giggled, "did you sleep well honey?"

"Yes I did," she nodded, "Thanks for asking. Matthew, do you have anything planned for today?"

"Nope, I don't have anything planned, other than getting those leaves off our lawn, that'll probably take about an hour to clear away. Why do you ask honey?"

"Well," she said while hugging me in a cute cuddle, "I was wondering if we could go out and just spend the day together."

"Of course we can do that," I said while rubbing her back smoothly, "I would love to spend the day with you Kaede. So where would you like to go?"

"Anywhere is good," she answered while blushing, "as long as I'm with you dear."

I just started blushing the very moment she said that. "Okay then," I smiled. "Well anyways, I guess we should get up and get ready for today..."

"Wait," she said, "can we stay here for a while, just like this?"

"Sure," I nodded, "let's stay here for a while."

With that confirmed, Kaede and I stayed in bed with our arms wrapped around each other and of course we would kiss every five minutes or so. I know Kaede and I kiss alot, but hey, if you love someone with all your heart and soul, wouldn't you and your love one do the same?

At around five fifteen, Kaede and I got up from the bed, got changed and went off downstairs to get started on breakfast. We were halfway down the stairwell when we heard the doorbell ring, "odd," I said, "who would want to drop by at five thirty in the morning?"

"I don't know," Kaede answered. We walked down the stairwell side by side, then we walked over to the door. Kaede unlocked it and slid to the left, "Rimu?" she gasped.

Sure enough, it was Primula, "hey Kaede, I forgot my toy cats, do you mind getting them for me?"

"Sure Rimu...have you been having trouble sleeping lately?"

"Sadly yes, I try every night, but I always have a hard time sleeping - is Little Sis still asleep?"

"Yeah she's still asleep, and so is Daisy and Monty," I answered, "surprising they didn't hear the doorbell."

"Would you like to come in just for a little bit Rimu?" Kaede asked kindly.

"I love to, but I don't think it's a good idea for me to stick around for too long. If Little Sis wakes up and she sees me then...well you know. Can you please get me my cats?"

"Sure Rimu," Kaede said quietly. She turned and walked off for Primula's room. She returned a minute later with Primula's cats, "if you just wait a little bit, I can make you some breakfast."

"That's sweet of you to offer Kaede, but I have to go, I'll see you two later." She turned on her heel and walked sadly away.

"Oh poor Rimu," Kaede said quietly, "I wish there was something we can do to help her."

"We're doing the best we can, the rest is up to her and Little Sis." Kaede and I went quiet as we watched Primula walk down the street and out of sight of the house.

By around six thirty, breakfast was finally ready. Daisy was the first to come downstairs, "hey Daisy, where's Monty?"

"I think he's getting up right now," she yawned, "I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but he is a heavy sleeper. Now am I going nuts or did I hear the doorbell earlier?"

"You're not going nuts, you did hear the doorbell earlier. It was Primula," I answered, "She came by to get her cats."

"How was she anyways?"

"Not good," Kaede answered, "she hasn't gotten much sleep, the lines under her eyes were really dark."

"Poor thing. So...what are we going to say to Naomi if she askes?"

"Just say it was a delivery," I said while bringing a couple of dishes to the table, "enough said."

Monty came down less than a minute later, followed by Naomi, "are you planning on seeing Marshall again today Naomi?" Daisy asked kindly. Naomi didn't answer the question with words, but she did nod her head, "well if you want, Monty and I can go with you to the hospital, then we'll treat you today, would you like that?"

"Yeah," she answered quietly.

Like Primula, there were dark lines under her eyes too, only these were darker than Primula's.

After breakfast, Monty gave me a hand with washing the dishes, then went to join Naomi and Daisy at the doorway, "ah Naomi, you got your right foot in left shoe," he said.

"Oh, my bad," she said quietly again and quickly corrected her mistake.

As she was doing this, Bridget the cat walked up to Naomi and started rubbing herself aganist Naomi's legs - but our little red head never bent down to pat her.

"Naomi, are you okay?" Kaede asked.

"I'm fine," she looked down and patted Bridget a few times, then she walked outside.

"We'll keep an eye on her," Daisy whispered to us, then she and Monty walked out to join Naomi, who was already walking up to the gate, "geez Naomi, you can't wait for us?"

"Sorry," she said quietly, "see you later!" She called to us as all three walked away from the house.

An hour later, Kaede and I were finally ready to head out. Since it was a little chilly out today, Kaede and I were wearing our matching sweaters, her's was pink with a blue line while mine was dark blue with a pink line. I was also wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, dark grey socks and I was also wearing my almost run down running shoes. As for Kaede, she was also wearing a light grey skirt, grey socks and white shoes with little pink bows on it.

Despite it being chilly outside, we decided not to take the Chevy Blazer today - nope, we decided to walk.

As we reached the streets, we saw Daryl walking over towards Nerine's house. And speaking of that blue haired girl, she was walking out to the street too, "hello Matthew, hello Kaede," she said to us, "what are you two up to today?"

"Kaede and I are going out today," I answered, "just spending time together. And you?"

"Nerine and I are going out today too," said Daryl, "same reasons as you two, Nerine and I want to spend time together."

"Then why don't you join us?" Kaede suggested, "it can be a double date."

"Do you mean it Kaede?" Nerine asked, sounding a little surprised by this suggestion, "Daryl and I don't want to ruin your day out together."

"It's okay with us, we don't mind if you two tag along? Isn't that right Matthew?" she asked while looking up to me. I nodded my head in agreement, "so what do you say to the double date?"

"Well if you two are sure about it, then I'm okay with it," said Daryl, "what about you Nerine?

"Daryl and I would be delighted to go out with you two on this double date."

"In that case, let's get going," I said.

And that's just what we did. As we walked away from our houses, Nerine held out her right hand and Daryl grabbed it with his left hand. As for Kaede, she wrapped both her arms around my left arm and rested her head on my shoulder, she looks so cute when she does that.

One of our first stops on our 'double date' was at the movie theatre. We looked at several posters for a minute and a half before we all decided on which movie we wanted to watch, which is called 'Boy Loves Super Hero Girl', "I heard about this movie," said Kaede, "it was done by the same director who directed the 'Sunflower Field of Love' movie, I also heard that it's suppose to be really good."

"Yeah I heard that too, it's already won twelve academy awards already," she turned to face Daryl, "would you like to see this movie Daryl?"

"Yes I would like to see that movie," he said with a smile, "it's a perfect choice, unlike that movie 'Haunted House on the Corner', if my brother was here, I'm sure he would drag either myself or Sia into seeing that movie."

"He wouldn't," I said sounding completely shocked.

"Oh he would, one thing you'll find about my brother Dave is that he likes watching horror movies and slasher flicks."

"I think Sia told me that once after one of her dates," said Nerine, "she said that she found out the hard way, she was as white as a ghost."

"In other words he took her to see a horror or slasher movie," I said.

"Yeah that sounds like my brother alright," groaned Daryl. "I just hope that he and Sia are having a good time in Paris."

"Oh I'm sure they are," said Nerine, "now, Daryl and I will get the tickets and you two can get the refreshments and snacks, okay?"

"Okay," Kaede and I said in unison.

So while Daryl and Nerine got the tickets, Kaede and I got the refreshments. She asked for the popcorn while I got the bottles of water, which were on a shelf underneath the counter. As I was reaching underneath the counter, I felt something sharp scratch my skin.

"Ow!" I groaned, "that's going to leave a mark."

And indeed it did, it left a little scratch on the skin in between my second and third finger. I didn't notice that though until we met Daryl and Nerine at a table near the small arcade, "whoa Matthew, what happened to you?" asked Daryl.

"What?" I asked.

"You might want to look at your hand," said Nerine.

I looked down to my hand and gasped, "I must've cut it when I was reaching for those bottles of water." It wasn't a very big cut, but still there was a small patch of blood on my hand and it was still bleeding.

Kaede got out a small clothe from her purse and after wiping the blood off my hand, she wrapped it around my hand. I groaned a little bit as she tied it up, "I'm sorry Matthew," she said.

"It's okay Kaede, I'm alright. Remind me when we get home though to put a bandage on that cut."

"You really scratched yourself up badly Matthew," said Daryl, "you gotta be more careful next time buddy."

"Sure, I'll remember that," I said, "now let's go in and see that movie." With that said, we headed off for the theatre and like before, Kaede wrapped both her arms around my left arm and rested her head on my shoulder. Truth be told, Nerine did the same thing with Daryl, only she held onto his right arm.

After the movie was done, we walked out of the theatre with some tears in our eyes, "that was such a beautiful movie," Nerine said quietly, "it's no wonder why it won so many academy awards."

"I loved the ending part," Kaede sobbed quietly, "they get their happily ever after, despite what everyone said."

"Yeah that was my favourite part too," I said.

We finally wiped away the tears from our eyes by the time we reached the lobby, though I can't say the same for the rest of the people who went in to see that movie.

"So where do you guys want to go next?" Daryl asked.

"Why don't we go to the karoke studio next?" Kaede suggested.

Daryl and Nerine looked at Kaede with surprised looks on their faces, "you want to a karoke studio?" they asked in unison. Kaede nodded her head happily.

"We can do duets," she said, "Rina can record a duet with Daryl and I can record one with Matthew."

"I say we go with Kaede's suggestion," I said.

"Naturally you would," Daryl chuckled, "well if that's what you want to, then we'll go there...as long as you're okay with it Nerine." Nerine nodded her head as to agree with the idea. With that confirmed, the four of us headed off to the karoke studio.

When we arrived, Kaede and I waited out in the waiting room as Nerine and Daryl took the last booth in the studio. I'm being serious here, all the other booths in the studio were being used.

"This must be a popular place," I said quietly, "couples probably come here alot to do a duet."

"Sia brought Rin here once," said Kaede.

"What? When did this happen?"

"They came when they went out together shortly after the summer vacation began, but they didn't stay for too long. All Rin said was that it was because of the things Mayumi was saying."

"Yeah I remember that day well," said another voice.

Kaede and I looked up to see who the voice belonged to, it was Mayumi and she wasn't alone - she was with Itsuki.

"I was being a royal pest in front of them," Mayumi groaned, "I was taking pictures of them and saying that Rin finally picked his girlfriend - I can't believe I once acted like that. A lot has changed since that time."

"You can say that again," said Itsuki, "I acted a complete baka back then, heck even Rin wanted to beat the crap out of me."

"Yep," Mayumi smiled as she held onto Itsuki's right hand, "we've changed alot since then, we've changed into mature young adults and are happily married to the one we love." Itsuki nodded his head in agreement. Mayumi looked back over to us, "you guys here to do a duet?"

"Yes we are," Kaede answered happily, "we were just waiting for a booth to open up."

"How long have you two been waiting?" Itsuki asked.

"Ah for about two minutes already," I answered, "originally Daryl and Nerine said that we could go in first, but Kaede and I said that they go in first."

"You guys came here with Rina and Daryl?" asked Mayumi.

"Yes," Kaede nodded, "we're on a double date with them."

The woman at the front desk said that a booth was open for us, (although we already knew that). "Well we better get going anyways," said Mayumi, "thanks for coming along with me Itsuki."

"You're welcome sweetheart," he said happily. "Have a good time you two," he said to us before he and Mayumi walked away.

"We will!" Kaede and I called in unison.

We got up from our seat and walked over to the booth, "so Kaede, which song would you like to sing?"

"How about 'You'll Be In My Heart'?"

"Sure, let's sing that song," I smiled.

And that's what we did. We practiced singing the song for a bit, then we recorded our duet onto a blank CD. We both sang it perfectly - and what can I say about Kaede's singing? She was fantastic! I even said so to Kaede after we were done singing.

"Kaede, you were great."

"You mean it?"

"Of course I mean it," I smiled.

"Oh thank you Matthew, that's so sweet of you to say that," she gave me a little kiss on the left side of my face, "thanks again for teaching me how to sing."

"You're welcome honey."

Before walking out of the booth, I finalized the disc and placed it in a special case and handed it to Kaede, who placed it in her purse, then we went to join Nerine and Daryl, who were waiting out in the lobby for us.

After leaving the Karoke studio, we headed off to the flea market for a bit. During that time, Nerine and Daryl found matching sweaters (kinda like the ones Kaede and I were wearing), while Kaede and I found a few things we were looking for. For me, it was a couple of romance mangas and Kaede, she found a couple of new dresses she really liked.

Shortly after getting those things, we headed off to 'Mike's Diner' for lunch.

"Dave told me about this place," said Daryl, "he said they serve really good food."

"Yeah Sia told us the exact same thing too," I said. I whispered into Kaede's right ear, "I still think your cooking is better." Just hearing that made Kaede blush into a cute shade of red.

After lunch, the four of us headed off to the smaller mall for a bit where we met up with Rin and Asa.

"Hey you two," I smiled, "what are you up to?"

"We're just shopping for some baby things," said Asa, "then we're going to the movie store, as I had promised Rin that we could go there after we were done shopping for the baby stuff."

"Hey it doesn't matter to me where we go," said Rin, "as long as we're together."

"Geez Rin, you're starting to sound a lot like Matthew," chuckled Daryl.

"Yeah I guess I do," Rin chuckled, "I'm just trying to be a good husband to Asa and..." he looked down to Asa's stomach, "I'm going to do the best I can to be a good dad for this child."

"And you will be a great dad," Asa smiled, "I just know it."

"Thanks Asa," Rin smiled, "that means a lot. Now, shall we get going?"

"Yeah let's get going," she smiled. Before they walked away though, she called out to us, "have fun on your double date!"

Once they were out of sight, the four of us continued our little walk around the mall for another ten minutes or so. Then we headed off to the couple's amusement park.

"What would you guys like to ride on first?" I asked.

"How about the carousel ride?" suggested Nerine.

There was a short pause from Daryl, that was until..."let's go!" he said happily. He grabbed onto Nerine's hand, then the two of them ran off to the carousel ride. Kaede and I followed closely behind them, with our hands holding onto each other.

From around one in the afternoon to around four thirty, the four of us went on alot of different rides, one such example was 'The Tunnel of Love', riding on 'Swan' boats and riding on some roller coasters. At four forty five, the four of us were riding on the big Ferris wheel. Nerine and Daryl had gotten on first, so they were riding in a different carriage than us.

We were looking out to see the City of Tokyo, by now the sun was going down for the day. "It's a beautiful view from up here don't you think Kaede?"

"Yes, it was a beautiful view," she nodded happily.

"So Kaede, did you have a good time today?"

"Yes, I did have a good time and - I'm still having a good time, especially since I'm with you Matthew." She wrapped both of her arms around my left arm and rested her head on my left shoulder again, "I love you Matthew."

"And I love you too Kaede." I gave her a small kiss on her forehead, then she kissed me on the left side of my face.

Once we were off the ride, the four of us headed off to get something to eat before returning home.

By around five fifty, we finally returned to our streets, "well that was a lot of fun," said Daryl, "wouldn't you agree with me Nerine?"

"Yes, it was a lot of fun," she nodded, "thank you for inviting us to join you two on your date."

"You're very welcome," Kaede said happily, "we had a great time on this double date. Right Matthew?" I nodded my head, "maybe we can do it someday."

"Yeah, that would be great," said Nerine.

"We would like that," smiled Daryl.

We said our good byes to Nerine and Daryl, then we went inside the house. When we walked in, we found that Naomi, Daisy and Monty were still out at this time.

"Gosh, it's been a while since we had the house to ourselves," I said, "hasn't it?"

"Yes it has been a while," Kaede said in agreement. "What would you like to do now Matthew?"

"How about we just relax and watch some of our favourite shows for a while? Would that be okay?"

"Yes, that would be okay. I would like that."

And so once we got into the living room, I placed a DVD disc featuring episodes of 'Home Improvement' Season 3 into the DVD player, then I went over to the couch to lay down. Kaede walked over to the couch, then she layed down on top of me with her head resting on my chest.

Less than ten minutes later, our two sisters and Monty came home, "did you guys have a good time out today?" Daisy asked.

"We did," Kaede nodded.

"What about you three huh?" I asked, "did you have a good time out today?"

"Yeah we did," Monty answered, "except when we went to the megamall...we almost ran into Max and...you know who."

"Yeah we know who you're talking about," I said quietly. Kaede and I looked over to the doorway to see Naomi standing there, she was looking down to the floor and sighing every few seconds.

"The moment we saw them, Daisy suggested we go into the nearest store..."

"A girl's clothing store," Naomi muttered.

"Yeah I'm sorry about that Monty," said Daisy, "but it's better than having a fight in the mall."

"Nah it's alright Daisy," he said with a smile on his face, "now you said earlier that you were going to show me how to cook right?"

"That's right," she nodded. She looked over to us, "is it okay if I teach Monty how to cook?" We both nodded our heads, "alright then, come on Monty. Naomi, do you want to help us?"

"Yeah sure," she sighed and walked off towards the kitchen.

"Truth be told, after we left the hospital, she didn't say a single word - at least until we came home," Daisy whispered to us, "is there anything you would like us to make while we're in the kitchen?"

"Not really," I answered, "both Kaede and I ate before we came home."

"Okay then. If you need us, you know where we are," with that said, she and Monty went to join Naomi, who was already in the kitchen.

Kaede and I layed there on the couch until around eight thirty when we went upstairs to get ready for bed, "Matthew," said Kaede, "would you like to take a bath with me?"

Just hearing that question made me blush, "sure Kaede, I would love to take a bath with you."

Kaede smiled when she heard that. She grabbed onto my right hand with her sweet left hand, then we walked off to the bathroom. When we got in, I locked the doors while Kaede turned the taps to fill up the bathtub, then we got undressed at the same time. Once the tub was filled up, I got in first, then Kaede came in and sat there right in front of me.

"Hey Kaede, would you like me to wash your hair?"

"Yes please."

"Okay then, just let me know if I get any soap in your eyes okay?"

"Okay."

I poured some of the 'Heads and Shoulders' Shampoo in my right hand, then I started rubbing it into her soft orange hair. Luckily, I never once got any of the soap in her eyes, not even when I washed the soap out of her hair. When I was done, Kaede washed my hair. When she was done there, we washed ourselves.

Kaede and I stayed in that bathtub for...probably about twelve minutes, I'm not sure. Anyways, after our bath, we got into our housecoats and walked off to the bedroom.

"Matthew, would it be okay if we slept naked tonight?" Kaede asked.

"Of course it would be okay," I smiled. Again Kaede showed me that cute smile.

Before we took off our housecoats, Kaede and I did our usual hug. We also kissed on the lips for a minute and a half before we took off our housecoats. I climbed into bed first, then Kaede climbed in and rested her head on my chest.

"Did you have a good time today Matthew?"

"Of course I did. I always have a good time when I'm with you Kaede."

"I'm glad to hear that," Kaede smiled. She moved up a bit and gave me a kiss on the lips - it was a long and beautiful two minute kiss. "I love you Matthew."

"I love you too Kaede."

"I'll see you in the morning."

"I'll see you in the morning," and like I always do, I winked at her and Kaede giggled.

Kaede moved back down till her head was resting on my chest, then she closed her eyes and went off to sleep. I wrapped my arms around her, then after whispering, "I love you" to Kaede, I closed my eyes and went off to sleep.


	35. Charlie's Not So Great Return

And my writing spree continues. Charlie Banks, Matthew's former friend from High School hasn't been seen since episode 13 'The Return of Charlie Banks', but now in this chapter, part one of two, Charlie makes his return again and of course, his former wife Megan and his daughter Alyssa make another appearance in this chapter - those two characters have not been seen since their introduction in chapters 5 & 6. Besides those three characters, there's more character returning in this chapter, he hasn't been seen his appearance in chapter 24 - see if you can guess which one I'm talking about. I owe a special thank you to Mike11208 who helped me quite a bit for helping me to come up with the ideas for this two parter series of chapters. Now before we begin, there are some parts of this story that are in third person narration, also note that this series is rated M for there is swearing and some action is included and this chapter's date starts on October 9th 2011, anyways...I hope you will enjoy reading this chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 35: Charlie's Not So Great Return**_

It was nice and sunny on Sunday October 9th 2011 - it was so nice in fact that Kaede and I were at the park just enjoying the nice warm weather. Like always, we were holding hands as we walked along. After walking for a while, we decided to sit down on one of the many benches in the park and rest for a while.

"I hope Naomi's okay," Kaede said to me, "she looked so depressed when she left...I'm actually starting to get worried about her."

"You're not alone there Kaede, I'm getting worried about that little girl too. I haven't seen that much sadness in those little brown eyes of her's since she told us about her brother Lance - nor have I seen that much sadness in Primula's eyes."

"I hope she's okay," Kaede said quietly, "she didn't look too good yesterday."

"Yeah I know, but there is good news."

"What's that?"

"Well, I was talking with Max on the phone this morning and he said that Primula is thinking about having a little talk with Little Sis sometime this upcoming week."

"So that means they might make up and be good friends again."

"Yeah that's just what I was thinking," I said while smiling, "and that means that Primula will move back in - hopefully."

Very close to where Kaede and I were, was a little playpark with swings, slides and a sandbox. As we sat on the bench, Kaede and I watched the young kids playing.

"Pretty soon we'll be watching our kids playing in the park," I smiled.

"Yeah," Kaede nodded, then she noticed, "isn't that Alyssa playing over there?"

I checked, "yeah it is Alyssa, but where's Megan."

"I'm right behind you," she said, making me jump a little bit, "sorry Matthew, I didn't mean to spook you."

"Nah that's okay," I said, "by now I'm getting used to people sneaking up behind me." I turned around and saw that it was Megan Banks, wife to the infamous Charlie Banks, who by the way is still in jail right now, "it's been a while hasn't it?"

"Yeah it has," Megan nodded, "I haven't you seen you guys since Charlie went off to jail. Now did I hear you guys correctly? Are you two going to have children?"

"Yes we are," Kaede nodded, "I'm three months pregnant right now."

"Well congratulations you two," Megan smiled, "I'm so happy for both of you."

"Thank you Megan, so how are you and Alyssa doing?"

"Oh we're doing just fine - I'm back at work again, Alyssa is going to school...just the other day we were some grogery shopping together, life's just great," she smiled. She sighed and looked back over to Alyssa, "she's my sweet little angel, I don't want to see her get hurt, especially not from Charlie."

"Speaking of which," I said, "I wonder how he's doing."

"Trust me, you don't want to know Matthew," said Megan, "I went to visit him last week and he's worse than ever, he said some things that are not worth repeating," she muttered quietly. Kaede and I gulped, we could only guess just what Charlie said.

Just then, Megan felt a small pair of hands grab onto her left hand. She looked down to see her little girl looking up to her and smiling. Megan picked her up until she was nearly face to face with her mother, "will you play with me mommy?" she asked.

"Of course I will sweetie," she back over to us, "before we go play though, why don't you say hello to Matthew and Kaede?"

"Hello," she said sweetly.

"Hello Alyssa," Kaede and I said in unison.

"So Alyssa, what would you like to play right now?" Megan asked. Alyssa thought about it and told her that she wanted to play on the swings, "very well, we'll go play on the swings. It was nice seeing you two again," she said while looking over to us, "I hope we can get together again someday."

"Oh I'm sure we will," I said.

"Bye," Alyssa said in a cute voice, then she and Megan went off to play on the swings. Just after they left, we got up from the bench and headed off for the mall.

Later that evening, just a couple of hours after dinner, I was online talking with my friends on the Sodor Island Forums and telling them about what's been going on lately. Daisy came by to see how I was doing, "I'm okay Daisy. What about you though? Did you, Monty and Little Sis have a good day out?"

"We did," she nodded, "although now I'm really starting to get worried about Naomi. Earlier when we were visiting Marshall, she said that she wishes she had been hit by the car instead - Matt, do you think she might try to hurt herself?"

"I don't know Daisy," I answered, "I hope not. Just keep an eye on her at all times just to be on the safe side."

"Right," Daisy nodded. "Now I was just talking with Kaede before she went to take her bath and she was saying that Rimu is going to try to put things right with Naomi."

"Yep, Max called me earlier to tell me that." I told Daisy what I told Kaede earlier today.

"Well I'm glad to hear that," Daisy smiled, "it'll be nice to have the whole family back together again."

"My thoughts excatly," I smiled. Just then, I felt something furry rub aganist my left leg. I looked down and saw Bridget the Cat rubbing aganist me, "hey girl, when did you get in here?"

Bridget meowed a couple of times, getting louder with each meow until Daisy started patting her.

"I think Bridget also misses Rimu," said Daisy. "Well don't worry Bridget, Rimu will be coming home soon." Bridget started purring loudly, as if she was happy to hear this news. "Well I better go back to my room to see if Monty's gotten changed into his pajamas, I'll see you in the morning Matt."

"See you in the morning Daisy," I called back to her.

After she left my room, I went back to talking to my friends for a bit before checking up on Naomi - I knocked, but no response. So I turned the handle and opened the door, only to find her fast asleep and holding onto a manga book. I walked quietly up to her bed and tugged her in gently, making sure I didn't wake her up.

A second later I heard her say, "I'm sorry Big Sis..." she was talking in her sleep, (just like Kaede does every now and then), "I didn't mean to upset you. Can we be friends again, please?" Then she went quiet.

"Just be patient Little Sis," I whispered, "you and Primula will make up for your previous fight and you will be good friends again."

She probably did hear me, cause a second later I saw a smile on her face, "I hope so," she said while still sleeping.

I tip-toed quietly out of the room and back to the bedroom. Kaede was already in there when I came back in, "were you checking on Naomi?" Kaede asked me.

"Yeah I was and you won't believe this, but Little Sis talks in her sleep."

"Just like me," Kaede giggled, "so what did she say?" So I told Kaede what Naomi said in her sleep, "I guess Naomi wants to have a little talk with Rimu too."

"Yep and like we were saying before, when they talk, they might make up and be friends again - who knows, maybe Little Sis will ask Primula to move back in."

"Maybe - that would be great wouldn't it?"

"Yeah it would," I nodded.

Once Kaede had gotten into her pajamas, we climbed into bed, said our good nights and went off to sleep.

Early the next morning, I was making the bed while Kaede was working in the kitchen with Daisy and Monty. Just as I had finished, Naomi came walking into my room, "hey Big Bro, are you going to pick me up after school?"

"Of course I will. I mean what kind of big brother would I be if I went back on what I said?" I said to her, "I'll be there, don't you worry about that?"

"I wasn't worried about that," she said with that worried look on her face.

"Is something bugging you Little Sis?"

She looked over to my sword, "make sure you bring that with you today," she said.

"Your sixth sense, it's warning you again isn't it?"

"Yeah it is - it's telling me that someone who really hates you is going to show up today. So make sure you have the sword with you." She turned on her heel and walked out of my room.

I walked over to the dresser and picked up the sword, then before taking it out of it's case, I blew tonnes of dust off of it (I haven't used that sword since the fight with Ivy and Samantha back in June), then I took it out of it's case - it glowed once again as I held it, "her sixth sense hasn't been wrong yet," I thought to myself. I swung it around a few times before putting it back in it's case, "I'm ready for whoever that person is."

Of course by the time I had gotten downstairs, Naomi had told Kaede what her sixth sense had told her, so as you can guess, Kaede had a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry Kaede, I'm going to put the sword in my truck, just in case," I told her.

"Just be careful Matthew. Last time you fought with that sword, you nearly lost to Ivy...I don't know what I would do without you," A couple of tears appeared from Kaede's eyes.

I gently wiped them away with my right second finger, then I gave her a hug to help calm her down, "don't worry Kaede," I whispered calmly to her, "I will be careful honey, I'll come home safe and sound okay?"

"Okay," she whispered back and started hugging me.

"Breakfast is ready!" we heard Daisy call from the kitchen, "come and get it!"

"Since when did she start saying that?" I thought to myself. "Kaede, you go on ahead into the kitchen, I'll join you guys in a minute once I put the sword in my truck."

"Okay Matthew," Kaede nodded with her cute angel like smile showing again. She turned and walked back into the kitchen.

"I really hate making Kaede worry," I thought as I headed off to the truck, "I mean how am I suppose to keep my promise to her if those bakas won't leave us alone? Oh well, I'll just have to keep teaching them that lesson until they finally learn it." Once I had the sword placed underneath the backseat of the truck, I walked back into the house to join my wife, sisters and Monty for breakfast.

Just before leaving for school, Naomi helped Kaede and I to wash the dishes, pots and pans.

"Have a good day Naomi," Kaede said kindly to her after we were done.

"I will," she said quietly, "and I'll see you later Big Bro - just be careful okay?"

"Of course I'll be careful," I nodded, "and you do the same today." Naomi nodded, then she went off to join Monty and Daisy, who at this time were just getting their shoes on. "Well I guess I better get going too, I'll see you later tonight Kaede."

"Yeah, I'll see you later tonight Matthew." She gave me a quick kiss on the lips, then gave me my lunch, "have a good day at work."

"I will."

Like always, once I had gotten into my truck, Kaede waved to me until I was out of sight, then she went back into the house.

At the end of a long school day, Naomi was at her locker getting some things before heading off to the front gate to wait for her ride. "Hey Naomi," said a familar voice, she looked to her left and saw Shiori standing close by, "is everything okay? You look tired...and worried too."

Naomi let out a big yawn, "well I'll admit that I haven't been getting alot of sleep lately," she said, "almost every time I close my eyes, I see the moment Marshall was hit by that car."

"And what about the other times?"

"The other times...I dream that I'm in a fight with Big Sis, I keep asking her to stop fighting me, but she won't stop. She smirks at me while she continues to attack me with both her fists and her powers."

"Yikes, talk about a bad dream."

"You said it...I just hope it doesn't come true."

"I doubt that it will Naomi," Shiori said kindly, "after all, Rimu cares about you, she would never want to hurt you."

"Maybe...I hope you're..."

"Freeze!" shouted another voice from the enterance way, "nobody moves! You understand?" All the students looked to find a man wearing a dark robe standing there with a gun in his hands, "I'm not afraid to use this thing!"

"I recongize that voice," Naomi whispered to Shiori, "it's Charlie Banks!"

"Charlie Banks?" Shiori exclaimed quietly, "but I thought he was in jail."

"So did I," Naomi whispered back, "but I guess he found a way to break out."

The person standing at the doorway was indeed Charlie Banks, he had managed to break out of jail earlier that morning by knocking the guard out and disguising himself in the officer's uniform. After getting out, he robbed a clothing store where he got the dark robe and the rest of the clothes he was wearing.

"What do we do now?" asked one of the other students.

"Stay put!" snapped Charlie as he pointed his black handgun at the student. The young student was worried, but didn't move, "good kid," Charlie snickered.

Just then, they all heard tires screeching by the front gates, "about time he showed up," Charlie chuckled with a sly grin on his face.

The tires screeching came from the Chevy Blazer, driven by yours truely. Upon seeing Charlie, I had slammed on the brakes, stopped the truck by the gate and grabbed the sword from it's hiding place and ran to the enterance of the school.

"You might as well give it up Charlie!" I said angerily, "I phoned the police before getting here, they'll be here in minutes - you won't be getting away with threatening the teachers and students of this school. I won't let you hurt them!"

Charlie started laughing in a menacing laugh, "I think he's flipped his lid," whispered Naomi to Shiori.

"I think I missed the joke," I said.

"You are the joke, did you really think I was going to hurt these weaklinks?" he chuckled, "no, I was using this little bastards as bate to bring you here! I knew you would come to save them from me, you're too predictable Gagnon...to put in simple terms..."

"This was a trap."

"Correct, you're a lot smarter than you look. Now, I think it's about time I took you down and finally get rid of you for good!"

"Bring it Charlie! I'm not afraid of you!"

"Oh but you should," he removed the dark robe - revealing his second weapon, which was also a sword, "for you see, I too have a blade of my own - and once we start fighting, you're going to learn that I am better...than...YOU!" he said 'you' with a real dark tone in his voice.

Charlie pulled out his sword from it's holder and started swinging it around like a pro would.

"Now, come at me with everything you got Gagnon!"

"Very well," I pulled my sword out of it's holder and started swinging it around, "you're going to regret ever challenging me Charlie Banks!"

"We'll see about that Gagnon!"

We stood in position, getting ready for the fight. To be honest, I was actually quite nervous because I had never fought Charlie Banks before. The last time we were involved in a fight, Charlie was fighting by my side - now he was aganist me.

"Here we go!" I whispered to myself. I charged towards Charlie with my sword swinging, which clashed with his blade. Both of our blades clashed with each other over and over again - I will admit this about Charlie, he is one tough son of a gun.

"Come on Big Bro!" cried Naomi, "you can do it!"

Before I could respond back to my little sister, Charlie swung his blade at my left arm - which scratched me, "that's only a sample of what you're going to get Gagnon," Charlie chuckled.

"Okay, you got me that one time," I groaned, "but you won't get me again."

Again, the blades started clashing - then I felt a kick in the stomach, which knocked me down to my knees.

"Watch out Matthew!" that was Primula's voice I heard that time.

I looked back up to see Charlie trying to stab me with his sword. I rolled to the right, then to the left and right again, making the tip of his blade hit the pavement.

"Hold still you bastard!" snapped Charlie crossly.

He tried again and again, but his sword only hit the pavement. I was too much of an easy target, so before getting back to my feet, I kicked him in the stomach, which made him groan in pain.

"Yes!" cheered Naomi, "you got him now Big Bro!"

"Naomi," Daisy whispered to her, "you need to be quiet, otherwise Matt won't be able to concentrate on the fight and if he can't, he's going to get his ass kicked."

"Right sorry," Naomi whispered back.

Now that I was standing up again, the fight continued. Besides just swinging our swords, we were trying to punch or kick each other - that fight was intense, "oh where the heck are the police?" I groaned to myself, "they should've been here by now!"

"Getting scared now Gagnon?" Charlie asked with an evil grin.

"You wish!" I snarled threw my teeth.

"Well you should be, cause I will destory you!"

"No you won't!"

Charlie's blade was now pushing down aganist mine and forcing me down on my right knee. Charlie saw his chance to hurt me again - he stomped down on my left knee, "OUCH!" I cried in pain. Then Charlie kicked me down onto the ground again - but before he could make another move, I kicked him in the knee, "so tell me Charlie, how do you like it?" I asked while panting.

He didn't answer, instead - he got back up to his feet, then as I was getting up, he kicked me in the stomach and punched me in the face - I fell back flat onto the ground.

"Big Bro!" Naomi cried, she was going to run to my rescue.

"No Naomi!" cried Daisy, she had grabbed onto her arm, "it's too dangerous!"

"But we got to help him!"

I tried getting back up, but I never got to my feet as Charlie kicked me in the stomach, then he smacked the left side of my face - which knocked me down to the ground again. I groaned as I tried to get up, blood was now starting to come out of my nose.

"You'll never defeat me Gagnon!" chuckled Charlie, he kicked me in the stomach again, "You shouldn't have gotten in my way!" He kicked me again (I felt like throwing up), "you made a big mistake Gagnon!"

Again, I tried to get back up, but he smacked me hard in the face, knocking me down again. He pointed his blade at me and started laughing in a sinister way.

"You and I could've been wild dogs again," he said seriously, "but now...you'll pay for getting in the way!"

Now I was really scared, there was no sign of the police, I barely had any energy left for the fight and he had that blade of his pointed at me.

"I think not!" shouted another voice. A second later, Charlie was getting shocked by a tazer, "get down on your knees you fucking bastard!"

I looked to where the voice was coming from - it was coming from Cam Turner. He was the one who shot Charlie with the tazer.

"And what if I don't?" Charlie asked with a sinister chuckle. Cam didn't answer his question - well, not with words. He answered that question with another shock from the tazer - the tazer prongs were still attached to Charlie, so that's how he shocked him again.

"Ya alright Matthew?" Cam asked.

"Yeah I am, thanks for saving me," I panted.

Charlie was still eager for a fight, so Cam had to shock him again. The third shock finally got him down on the ground. He was still on the ground when the police arrived and arrested him.

Before they took him away, Charlie spoke to me, "you're lucky this time Gagnon, but next time we meet - I will destory you!"

"That's enough," said the officer, "unless you want to be tazed again." Charlie subsided into silence as he was placed in the back seat of the car. He didn't look mad though - in fact, he had a sly smile on his face, even when the police car drove away.


	36. Rise From the Ashes

And now here's the second part to the previous chapter. In some parts of this chapter, it's going to be in third person narration. Also rating is still 'M' for swearing is included and this chapter's date is October 10th 2011. Enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 36: Rise From the Ashes**_

Naomi, Monty and Daisy ran over to see if I was okay, "I'm fine, just a little sore that's all. That Charlie sure can fight - although he fights dirty," I said as I cleaned the blood off my face, my nose had stopped bleeding - thank goodness.

"I...I...just can't believe you lost the fight," said Naomi, sounding a little shocked, "You never lose the fight Big Bro, you always kick the bad guys down everytime."

"It's not a game Naomi," Cam said firmly, "fighting is a serious matter. It could've been worse for Matthew had I not come along."

"You're right there Cam," I said in agreement, "I'm lucky you came along when you did."

"Do you always carry weapons with you Cam?" Daisy asked.

He nodded, "they're for self defence. Now I must be going, I need to get some bird food for my bird Naja," with that said, Cam turned and walked away.

"Come on Little Sis, we better get going. I'll take you to the hospital, then I get some bandages from my cuts."

"Sure thing Big Bro," she said, "but what are you going to say to Kaede when she sees those cuts?"

"What else? I'll tell her the truth - it's important to tell the truth, lies will get you nowhere fast. Daisy, Monty, we'll see you two later. Come on Little Sis," and so, the two of us walked off to my truck while Daisy and Monty went back to talk with Primula.

A little later, the police car with Charlie in the back seat arrived at the local jail, "alright Banks, are you going to come along quietly or are we going have to taze you?"

"Quietly," Charlie muttered.

"Very good."

Charlie was good at first, but before getting into the station, he stopped walking. He smirked, spun around and smacked the officer in the face, "sorry to disappoint you officer, but I have a score to settle with an old foe of mine."

After getting out of his hand cuffs, he grabbed the keys from the officer's pocket, got into the car and drove away from the police station.

"You were lucky that time Gagnon," he snickered quietly to himself, "but you won't be so lucky this time - this time, I will finally have my revenage. I will destory you!"

After the quick visit to the hospital, Naomi and I were finally on our way back to the house - when we heard some sirens coming from behind us. I pulled over, intending to let the officer pass, but to my surprise, the officer pulled up in front of us. Then he lowered his window and pointed further down the road, "I wonder what the officer wants," said Naomi.

"I don't know," I said, "but we'll soon find out."

We followed the officer's car up to the top of a car parking lot. As we got to the top, Naomi looked at me with a worried look, "I got a real bad feeling about this," she said nervously.

I was about to respond back to that when we heard someone's voice over the speakers, "step out of the truck Gagnon, we've got some unfinished business to attend to!"

"Oh crap, it's Charlie!" I groaned, "how the heck was he able to get out of jail this time?"

"You're going to need your sword Big Bro," Naomi said nervously.

"Already ahead of you Little Sis," I said. I reached over to the big seat and grabbed hold of my sword, "now once I get out, lock the doors okay? I'm also giving you my cellphone, I want you to call the police."

"Okay, just be careful Big Bro and watch out for his dirty tricks."

"I will," I nodded.

I stepped out of the truck and Naomi locked the doors. Charlie stepped out of the police car, "sorry Gagnon, but I didn't feel like waiting for a rematch - I want my revenage and I want it now!"

"I can't believe you Charlie, you make it sound like a game when it's not."

"I'm threw talking Gagnon, I'm going to destory you now!" He charged at me with his blade swinging, I pulled out my sword out of it's case and defended myself with it. This time, the look in Charlie's eyes was sinister - I thought that this obsession of getting his revenage and trying to get his old life back has made him go insane.

Our blades continued to clash with each other, but I was having trouble defending myself - it's not easy fighting two times in one day.

"You've really lost it this time Charlie Banks!" I groaned.

"Lost it?" he chuckled, "no I haven't lost anything, just my fucking life! Thanks to that bitch, I had to give up being wild dog and thanks to your stupid interferring, I'm always in jail! It's all your fault!"

"Snap out of it Charlie! This isn't you! I remember a guy who loved Megan alot and even promised to watch my back if someone was bullying me!"

"Just shut up and fight!"

And so we continued fighting. The fighting went on for almost a minute, until Charlie kicked me in the stomach and then punched me on the left side of my face, causing me to fall to the ground.

"And so we're back where we left off," Charlie chuckled, "you're down on the ground and I'm the one still standing. You know though, I would have your back if you joined me."

"Forget it," I groaned threw my teeth.

"Oh come on Gagnon, your life was ruined by the people you thought were your loyal friends and family and now look at you..." he paused, just as the rain started coming down. "You're fighting to protect those traitors."

"They are not traitors," I groaned as I tried to get back up. I couldn't though, I fell back down.

"They are so - give them the chance and they will betray you and leave you with nowhere to go. They don't care about you, they all think you're the biggest loser they've ever seen. Why I bet that so called great wife of yours invited you here just to make you look like a fool."

"Shut up! They're not traitors! Kaede's no traitor!"

"You're only fooling yourself Gagnon. I did once and that's a mistake I'll never make again - and you shouldn't either. They will betray you. I on the other hand won't, join me and we can teach these traitors a lesson they'll never forget."

"Is Charlie right? Would my friends and family betray me like so many others had in the past?" I thought to myself, "no I can't believe that, he's just trying to use mind games on me!"

"They'll all leave you Matthew," Charlie said to me, "they're not your real friends or family. As for that Kaede, she doesn't really love you - she thinks you're a joke!"

"No!" I cried, "stop it!"

"You know I'm right! Just admit it!"

The images of what happened to me back in Canada started coming back to me. Starting with the betrayal of four of my childhood friends, getting dumped by all my past girlfriends, my parents leaving me in my time of need, teachers from high school making me feel bad, the beatings I got throughout the years in school from bullies and moments where I truely was alone.

"So, what will it be Gagnon?" Charlie asked, "will you join me? Or are you aganist me?"

I didn't hear Charlie, cause another memory came into my head - it was of one moment I had with Kaede, she said to me: _"I promise you Matthew, I will never leave you. I love you._" The look in her eyes just told me that she was serious. Following that memory, several more memories of times I spent with my friends and family followed (kinda like a slideshow in my head). Some showed me hanging out with them, other times (mostly with my sisters or with Kaede) were hugging moments and in each, I saw that they did care and were happy that I was there - they didn't think I was a joke like Charlie said.

There was one memory though that reminded me that Charlie was wrong. It was on my wedding day with Kaede when she said, "_I will always love you Matthew Gagnon._" That was quickly followed by the kiss she gave me.

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up to see Charlie, still holding onto his sword and looking anxious, "well Gagnon, will you join me?"

I didn't answer his question - well, not with words. I instead kicked him in the legs, making him fall face first onto the ground, "does that answer your question Charlie?"

"Yes!" I heard Naomi cheer, "way to go Big Bro!"

"You are right that some unexpected moments changed my life and that some people have betrayed me. However, you are wrong about me being a shadow of my former self - ever since coming here, I became a new man who's been and still is living a happy life. You're also wrong about my friends and family not caring about me - they are kind caring people, betraying someone is not who they are. Especially Kaede - she doesn't think I'm a joke - she often says that I'm her hero because I helped her when she is depressed and because I saved her from your kind several dozen times before..."

Charlie snarled as he was listening to this.

"She loves me and I love her and as for my friends and family, they _all_ care about me and I care about them all."

"ARGH! Shut up and fight!" Charlie shouted and charged towards me again.

"Fine Charlie!" I said as our blades clashed, "but as we fight, I'm going to teach you an important lesson - that love is stronger than hatred!"

"Too bad for you that I will destory you before you can teach me that lesson!" And Charlie swung his blade at me again - only to have it break into pieces as my blade clashed with his, "What the hell?" Charlie exclaimed.

"Did I forget to mention that my blade has special powers?" Charlie snarled when he heard that, "now why don't we do this the old fashioned way? No weapons."

"Fine, I'll still kick your ass - even without my weapons!"

Charlie undid his gun belt and dropped it onto the ground while I dropped my sword and got into a fighting stance. Charlie charged at me once again, swinging his fists, but he never hit me once.

"Will you hold still so I can kick the living crap out of you?" he shouted in pure anger. He swung his fists at me, but he never hit me - instead, I had punched him right in the gut - he looked like he was about to vomit.

"How...dare...you!" he shouted and tried punching me again. He never hit me though, mostly because I had kicked him in the legs - knocking him down for the second time. "Alright Gagnon, you've been lucky so far - but now your luck is going to run out!"

He swung at me, screaming: "you're done for now!" I dodged his punch, then I punched him in the face. Then I punched him in the stomach again. He charged, but got another punch on the left side of his face, "it's not...possible...how are you kicking my...ass?" he groaned.

"I told you Charlie Banks, Love is stronger than hatred."

"ARGH!" he charged at me one more time. I swung my fist - it smacked Charlie hard on the left side of the face - he groaned for a second, then he fell face first onto the pavement.

"Lesson over," I said. I groaned a bit and fell back aganist the guard rail, "boy that was tough."

"Big Bro!" I heard Naomi call. I looked to see her running over to me while several dozen police cars pulled up, "are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm okay," I nodded, "although I'm going to be feeling sore tomorrow."

Soon Damon and the other officers had Charlie restrained in the back seat of one of the police cars, "is Charlie okay?" Naomi asked.

"Yeah he's fine," answered Damon, "although he's going to feel bad tomorrow. You sure kicked the you know what out of him Matthew," he said to me.

"Gagnon!" snapped Charlie, "when I get out of jail, I will kick your ass and finally destory you!"

"Didn't you learn anything from our fight tonight?" I asked, "love is stronger than your hatred towards me, as long as I have the support of my friends and family, I will never lose. In other words, you'll never get your revenage - you'll never win the fight."

Charlie swore at me, but luckily Damon had shut the door before we could hear what he said - good thing too cause I don't think what he was very polite at all. Before getting back into his car, Damon spoke to me, "you should go home Matthew, get some rest and spend some time with your wife."

"That's excatly what I had in mind," I chuckled.

"Then go home buddy - I'll see you and Naomi later. Oh and leave these things to the police," he added as he climbed back into his car and drove away.

"I'll get your sword Big Bro..."

"No Little Sis, I'll get the sword - if you try touching it, it will give you a shock."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," she said meekily.

I picked up the sword and put it back in it's holder, "now, let's go home." With the sword placed under the back seat once again, we drove away from the parking lot and headed off for home.

When we got home, we found Kaede standing in the doorway, she was looking worried. She looked terrified though when saw the cuts I got during the two fights, "Big Bro was involved in two fights tonight," Naomi said to her, "and both times were aganist Charlie Banks. Looks like I was right after all."

I groaned to myself, "okay Little Sis, thanks for telling Kaede that - now why don't you go get started on your homework. I want to talk to Kaede alone."

"Sure thing Big Bro," and she was off in a flash.

"Sometimes I forget how fast that little girl can run," I said quietly. "She is right though, I was involved in two fights with Charlie, the first outside of your old school and the second was on the rooftop of a car garage."

"Did he hurt you?" she asked nervously.

"Sadly he did, as you can see from my cuts," I showed her some of the cuts on my right arm, "he nearly got me in the first fight, I'm lucky Cam came along to help...as I'm sure Daisy and Monty have told you."

"Yes they did tell me that, they told me when they came in."

"It was during the second fight he almost got to me."

"What do you mean Matthew?"

"He was using mind tricks to get to me. He wanted me to think that everyone I know, including you, would betray me like so many others have in the past, it almost worked too - that was until I remembered all the good times we've all shared together, which reminded me that you guys would never do that."

"Because it's not who we are."

"Right you are Kaede," I said with a smile, "and I told that to Charlie too. It's actually thanks to you, our sisters and the rest of our friends and family that I won the second fight - it's all thanks to the power of love. Love is stronger than hatred, as I had proven to Charlie tonight."

I smiled as I walked up to my wonderful wife, then I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a big hug, "I love you Kaede."

"I love you too Matthew," Kaede smiled as she wrapped her arms around me.

After our hug, Kaede and I went into the kitchen where I cleaned off the blood stains off of me, then we went upstairs where I put on some bandages. Kaede helped too by putting on a bandage on a cut on my right arm - it stung a little, "Sorry," she said.

"It's okay Kaede," I said kindly, "I'm actually feeling a little bit better now. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Once I was bandaged up, I went out to get my sword. After I got it, I took it back to the bedroom and placed it back on it's stand.

"Hey Matt," I heard a young voice call to me. I turned around and saw Daisy standing in the doorway, "Naomi just told Monty and I that you got into another fight with Charlie Banks...how the heck did he escape this time?"

"Damon said that he attacked the officer that brought him to the station, then he stole the police car."

"Geez, he's one stubborn son of a gun isn't he?"

"Sadly yes he is," I sighed unhappily. "Still, that's the first time since I was a kid that I fought two fights in one day."

"When was that?" asked Monty. He had just come by to see how I was, but ended up scaring Daisy, "sorry Daisy, didn't mean to spook you," he said kindly.

"Nah it's okay," she said as she calmed down.

"To answer your question Monty, I believe the last time I fought two fights in one day was...hmm," I thought hard as I tried to remember, "I think it was back in grade four, I'm not enterily sure."

"You don't remember too much about those fights do you?" Daisy asked kindly.

"No I don't," I answered, "it's like I said before, I've forgotten most of my memories from when I was a kid."

"It must've been tough fighting Charlie for the second time tonight," said Monty.

"Yeah it was tough, I had to use what was left of my strength just to defend myself at first. Good news though is that he's back in jail again," I sighed, "and now I'm looking forward to just spending the night with my wife."

Daisy looked down the hallway and smiled, "in that case, Monty and I will leave you two alone. Come on Monty."

"Right behind you Daisy," he smiled and followed her back to her bedroom.

A few seconds later, Kaede came walking into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around her and another one of top of her head, she also had a pair of pink slippers on her feet.

"Hey Kaede, listen I'm sorry I broke my promise to you again - I'll find a way to make it up to you."

"I think I know a way," she smiled as she walked up to me. She wrapped her arms around me, stood up on her toes and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. I just smiled as I stared into those beautiful blue eyes of the girl I love, then after wrapping my arms around her, I gave her a kiss on the lips for one and a half minute.

"I'll try to be more careful next time," I said after our kiss, "I'm sorry for making you worry Kaede."

"It's okay Matthew, I'm just glad you're okay. Now once I've changed into my pajamas," she was saying as we let go, "why don't we go downstairs and eat dinner?"

"Sure Kaede, but before we go downstairs - would you like me to brush your hair?"

Kaede was surprised to hear that, "you want to brush my hair?" she asked, I nodded my head. Her shocked expression disappeared and was replaced with a smile, "sure, you can brush my hair," she said happily.

So once she had changed into her pajamas, she sat down on the bed while I brushed her hair, "you let me know if I'm not being gentle okay?" I said to her. She nodded. She blushed as I brushed her hair softly and carefully.

"Thank you Matthew," she smiled when I had finished, "now, let's go downstairs and eat."

"Sure, let's go." And that's just what we did, we walked out of our room and headed off to the kitchen and like always, our hands were holding onto each other.

When our stomachs were full, we returned to our room just to relax. We layed down on the bed side by side and watching the TV we have in our room until around nine thirty when we were finally ready to go to bed.

"Hey Kaede, before we go to sleep, would you like to hear me sing you another song?"

"Yes please," she nodded happily, she sounded really excited, "I love hearing you sing."

Just hearing Kaede say that made me smile. She reached over to get my Ipod and then handed it to me. I gave her one end on the earphones to Kaede and placed the other end in my ear, then I started searching threw the list until I found the song I wanted to sing. It's called 'Bless the Broken Road' by 'Rascal Flatts'. I pressed the play and started singing...

_ I set out on a narrow way_

_ Many years ago_

_ Hoping I would find true love_

_ Along the Broken Road_

_ But I got lost a time or two_

_ Wiped my brow and kept pushin' through_

_ I couldn't see how every sign_

_ Pointed straight to you_

_ That every long lost dream_

_ Led me to where you are_

_ Others who broke my heart_

_ They were like northern stars_

_ Pointing me on my way_

_ Into your loving arms_

_ This much I know is true_

_ That God blessed the broken road_

_ That led me straight to you_

_ I think about the years I spent_

_ Just passin' through_

_ I'd like to have the time I lost_

_ And give it back to you_

_ But you just smile and take my hand_

_ You've been there, you understand_

_ It's all part of a grander plan_

_ That is comin' true_

_ That every long lost dream_

_ Led me to where you are_

_ Others who broke my heart_

_ They were like northern stars_

_ Pointing me on my way_

_ Into your loving arms_

_ This much I know is true_

_ That God blessed the broken road_

_ That led me straight to you_

_ Now I'm just rolling home_

_ Into my lover's arms_

_ This much I know is true_

_ That God blessed the broken road_

_ That led me straight to you_

_ That God blessed the broken road_

_ That led me straight to you_

Kaede waited until I had gotten my breath back, then she kissed me on the lips for a minute, "that was so beautiful," she said after our kiss, "you are a wonderful singer Matthew."

"Thank you Kaede," I just smiled as I continued to stare into those sweet blue eyes of her's.

She moved back down and rested her head on my chest, "are you feeling comfortable Kaede?" I asked kindly.

"I am," she nodded, "I'll see you in the morning Matthew..." then she added, "I love you."

"I'll see you in the morning Kaede," I said while winking my right eye. Kaede giggled as she always does. "I love you too," I added as I wrapped my arms around her. We both closed our eyes and went happily to sleep.


	37. Asa and Rin

Like in the 'My Kinda Life' and 'Our Kinda Trip' series, Ms. Ama, Asa and Rin haven't a lot time in the spotlight in this series - so for this episode, I'm going to give them more time in the spotlight (just like I did in episode 20 'Michael & Sakura'), so that means this episode is mostly in third person narration. This story's date is on October 11th 2011, rating is still the same for occassional swearing included and don't worry, Rin won't be going out of character this time, also note that there is a flashback moment in this chapter - and now without further ado, here's the 37th chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 37: Asa & Rin**_

After work was done for the day, Kaede and I went off to the 'Child Birth' class. Normally we're early for class, but not this time. When we arrived we found Asa and Rin already there, "oh my gosh Matthew," gasped Asa, "what happened to you, you look like you've been fighting again."

"That's actually what I was doing," I groaned, "I was involved in two fights with Charlie Banks last night."

"Him again?" asked Rin, "doesn't that guy know when to take a hint?" I shook my head in answer to that question.

"How are you two doing lately?" Kaede asked kindly.

"Oh we're doing okay," Asa answered, "just the other day, Rin and I were repainting my...ah our room together. Sorry, I'm still getting used to saying _ours_," she said while chuckling nervously. "Let's see what else..."

"We've been getting some baby things," Rin said, "and just last night, we replaced a broken window in the living room." Before either Kaede or I could ask 'why?', Rin said, "one of our neighbours' kid's baseball flew towards our house and smashed the window."

"Yikes," I gasped.

"Was anyone hurt?" Kaede asked.

"Nope, thankfully nobody was in the room at the time," Asa answered, "although I'll admit this, it was rather scary. For a moment there, I thought someone was breaking in."

"There's no need to worry Asa," Rin boasted, "I would protect you and Ms. Ama from a burglar." Asa just chuckled and shook her head, she's heard Rin boasting before.

"Hey Rin, I was just wondering, what kind of job do you do? I've been meaning to ask you that for sometime."

"Well Matthew, I work at an entertainment store. It's a very good job, I get to meet lots of people every day and it pays really well."

"That," Asa added with a chuckle, "and it means that Rin no longer has to get up at five thirty in the morning to do the paper route anymore. Which is good considering that he sleeps in almost every single day - that is until I tell him to get out of bed."

"Almost sounds like me," I chuckled, "I have a small problem with sleeping in, but I'll always wake up when I hear Kaede's voice."

"Oh Matthew," Kaede smiled and placed her head on my left shoulder.

"How sweet," smiled Asa. She looked down to Rin's right arm, then she wrapped both of her arms around his arm, "remember back when we were in school and you would get embarrassed if I did this to you."

"We were young at that time Asa, and we weren't a couple either. I didn't mind you doing that after we became a couple."

"Right," she said with a sly grin on her face. Rin just smiled and kissed his wife on the forehead, just seconds before the teacher arrived to unlock the doors for the classroom.

After class was done for the day, we went out to dinner together, "you guys have treated us out to dinner so many times in the past," said Rin, "I think it's about time we treated you out, right Asa?"

"Yes," she nodded, she looked back to her husband, "that's what I was going to say."

"Yeah well I decided it first," he chuckled.

"Oh Rin," Asa giggled and slapped her husband on the back for fun (I haven't seen Asa slap Rin on the back in a long time). As she slapped Rin, Kaede noticed something on Asa's left arm.

"Is that a tattoo on your arm Asa?" she asked.

"What? Oh you mean the butterfly huh? Well yes, it is a tattoo, but it's not a real one. This is one of those stick on tattoos that little kids can wear, it'll disappear in a matter of weeks. Why? Did you think it was a real tattoo?"

"Yes," Kaede nodded, "it looked so real."

"Well don't worry Kaede, it's not real. Besides," she added, "I'm never going to get a real tattoo, I'll stick to these stick on tattoos thank you very much, they are painless and unlike real tattoos, these disppear over time." She chuckled quietly, "Rin actually thought it was a real tattoo when he first saw it."

"I did not," he protested, "I knew it wasn't a real one."

"Sure you didn't," she giggled while raising an eyebrow.

"Oh Asa," Rin smiled and placed his right arm on Asa's shoulder, holding her close to him, "that sense of humor is one of the reasons why I love you so much." Asa blushed and then rested her head on Rin's right shoulder.

"How cute," Kaede smiled, "don't you think so Matthew?" I nodded my head in agreement.

It wasn't long before we arrived at the resturant Asa and Rin wanted to treat us out. It was an all-you-can-eat resturant, so we had a huge variety of food to choose from, "just a heads up here," Asa said to us, "there are some food up there that is a little spicy - we found out the hard way, didn't we Rin?"

"Yes we did," he said quietly.

With the way Asa was looking at Rin, I had to guess that Rin had been the one who found out - the hard way.

Both Kaede and Asa went up first, then after they came back, Rin and I went up to the 'buffet'. Kaede got chicken and rice, Asa got two pizza slices and roast beef, Rin also got a couple of slices of pizza and some pasta and as for me; I got some rice and pasta.

"I see you got the spicy pasta," said Asa, "well I hope you have plenty of water, cause that stuff is super hot."

"Don't worry about me Asa, I'll be fine," I reassured her.

We made at least two to three trips up to the buffet before we were finally full. And like they said to us before, Asa and Rin payed for our dinner, "thank you for treating us out tonight," Kaede said kindly to them.

"Yes thank you," I said, "but are you sure you don't want us to repay you back for our meals?"

"We're quite sure Matthew," said Rin, "you don't need to repay us back for dinner."

Asa looked over to Rin, "again Rin, how many times are you going to say what I'm going to say?" she asked. Rin just smiled and chuckled quietly. "Oh you," she giggled and gave him another slap, but not as hard as before, "you're a funny guy, you know that?"

"Tell me something I don't know," he chuckled. Asa giggled once more, and even Kaede and I were chuckling as we listened to them.

Asa turned her attention back to us, "we're glad you two had a good time with us tonight, it was great to hang out with you two," she said to us, just before she let out a huge yawn, "well I guess it's time to go home and get rest. We'll see you guys tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow Asa," Kaede called.

"And you too Rin!" I called to him. Rin waved back as the two of them walked off for the Shigure house, then we headed off for home.

Ms. Ama was in the living room watching some TV when Asa and Rin came in, "hello you two, did you have a good time out tonight?" she asked kindly.

"Yes we did," Asa nodded, "we learned quite a bit in class and we were hanging out with Matthew and Kaede again. We took them out to our favourite all you can eat resturant - I think we all ate too much."

"Again," Rin muttered in hopes that Asa wouldn't hear him.

Asa had heard Rin, but pretended like she hadn't heard him. She just giggled before she turned her attention back to her mother, "enough about us though, what about you huh? What have you been doing since we left?"

"Oh a little bit of this, and a little bit of that..." Asa raised an eyebrow at her mother, "the Game of Love was playing on the radio," Ms. Ama giggled, "anyways I washed the windows in here, did some gardening and did some of the laundry."

"Have you had anything to eat?" Rin asked.

"Of course I did Rin, I cooked up dinner after I was done. I had actually just finished washing the dishes a few minutes before you two came in."

"Oh okay, so what are you watching now?"

"I'm watching Home Improvement," she answered before she turned her attention back to Asa, "remember when you were younger and we used to watch this all the time?"

"Yes," Asa nodded, "whenever I was feeling well enough to get out of bed, we would come in here and watch the show together." She looked back over to the door and noticed Rin standing there, "are you going to stand like a bump on a log or are you going to join us Rin?"

"You're more than welcome to join us Rin," said Ms. Ama.

That being said, Rin walked happily over to the couch and sat down to the right side of Asa while the green haired girl herself sat in between her husband and her mother. The three of them watched one episode of Home Improvement before Rin grew too tired to stay awake, "you have been working hard today Rin," Asa said kindly, "go to bed and get some rest."

"Alright, I'll go to bed," he yawned, "I'll see you two in the morning."

"Good night Rin, sweet dreams," Ms. Ama said kindly to him.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite," Asa winked and giggled at Rin. Rin chuckled quietly as he got up and walked out of the living room. Once he was out of the room, Asa leaned back on the couch, "do you remember back when I was in school on Friday nights, you and I would sit here on this very couch and watch either movies or comedy shows?"

"I remember, when you were younger, you used to call them our 'girl's night'."

"Yeah I remember that, we started having 'girl's nights' sometime after I turned eight years old, right?"

"That's right Asa and I believe it was during that year that you started feeling well enough to get out of bed."

"Oh yeah..."

On a cold December morning, Ms. Ama came walking into Asa's bedroom to spend some time with her daughter, "Asa sweetie, it's time to get up."

Asa moved a little bit, then opened her eyes, "morning mommy," she said with a smile on her face, "can you open the curtains for me?"

"Of course sweetie," Ms. Ama walked over to the curtains and opened them, "oh look Asa, it snowed. Would you like to see it?"

"Yes," she nodded. What happened next surprised Ms. Ama. Asa slowly got out of bed, not groaning in pain, nor was she coughing at all - she walked up to the window and looked out, "it's so pretty," she said.

"Asa sweetie..."

Asa looked up to her mother, who was still in shock, "What's wrong mommy?"

"You're not...groaning or coughing Asa..." Ms. Ama got down on her knees so that she was face to face with her little girl, "how do you feel sweetie?"

"I...I feel...I feel...better. I don't feel sick anymore." Asa's young eyes watered with tears, "I'm all better!" She cried and ran up to her mother to give her a hug, something she hadn't been able to do in a real long time, "I'm all better mommy. Isn't that great?"

Her mother smiled and wrapped her arms around her baby girl, "yes it is, I'm so happy for you Asa." Ms. Ama started shedding some tears of her own, but these weren't sad tears - like Asa, these were happy tears. The two of them cried until they had cried out the last of their tears, "Asa sweetie, would you like to see the rest of the house?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"And maybe later, we'll go out for a bit and I can show you the city, would you like that?"

"Yes Mommy, I would like that."

And so, after getting some slippers on, Asa followed Ms. Ama out of her bedroom and was given the grand tour of her own house. Before that day, the only rooms Asa had been in before were her own bedroom and the washroom, usually she stayed in her bedroom because she was too weak to get out - so as expected, Asa was overall thrilled to _finally _see the rest of her own house.

Later on during their tour of the city, Asa was beyond thrilled, she was amazed with the city, she loved the tour. What she loved most about that day was when she and her mother could watch a television show in the living room - together.

"...after that, you got me into school, I got to meet lots of people, I joined lots of clubs and..."

"You found your true love and your best friend too," smiled Ms. Ama.

"Yep," sighed Asa. She let out a big yawn, "well I guess it's time for me to go to bed. I'll see you in the morning mom."

"See you in the morning Asa sweetie," she smiled, "don't let the bed bugs bite."

"Don't you worry, I won't let them bite," she giggled. She stopped before the doorway, turned around and said to her mother, "I love you mom."

"I love you too my sweet little girl."

Asa just smiled at her mother as she headed for her room. When she got into her and her husband's room, she found Rin fast asleep with only pajama pants on, "he must be really tired if he didn't getting changed," she thought to herself.

She didn't want to distrub Rin, so she just let him sleep. She got changed into her own pajamas, then climbed into bed next to her husband, "sweet dreams Rin, I'll see you when we get up." With that said, she closed her eyes and went off to sleep.

At around six thirty the next morning, Asa was woken up by her alarm clock. She reached up to turn it off, but this time she didn't get it - this time, it was turned off by Rin.

"Good morning sleepy head," he said to her.

"Rin?" she gasped, "you're up? Usually I'm the one who wakes you up."

"Yeah well this time I thought I could wake you up, but your alarm clock beat me to it."

Asa just giggled, "Well there's always a next time Rin. Hey quick question, when you were living in Kaede's house or in your old apartment, were there times when you just didn't feel like sleeping in?"

"Only once or twice in a month, other times - I have trouble getting up, as I'm sure Kaede has told you."

"Yeah, you're harder to get up in the mornings than Matthew. From Kaede tells me, when she gets him up in the morning, he _does _get up."

"Matthew told me the same thing once when we were hanging out with the rest of the guys," Rin said as he got up from the bed, "he actually says he prefers hearing the sound of Kaede's voice instead of his alarm clock. That's something he and I have in common, cause I prefer hearing the sound of your voice instead of hearing the alarm clock."

"Oh aren't you sweet," Asa smiled. She was flattered by Rin's comment, she blushed into a shade of red, "that's something else about you that hasn't changed. That gentle kindness, it's one of the many reasons why I love you so much."

Rin just smiled at his wife, "well your kindness is one of the reasons I love you too Asa," he said, "That and your crazy sense of humour."

"Oh you!" Asa picked up one of her pillows and threw it right at Rin, but missed him. Asa picked up another pillow and was about to toss it too when...she received a kiss on the lips from Rin. They kissed for a minute before their lips seperated, Asa was now blushing a deep shade of red, "oh Rin," she got up and wrapped her arms around Rin and he wrapped his arms around her.

After their hug, they picked out the clothes they wanted to wear that day, then headed off to the washroom to take a bath together.

"Hey Rin," Asa said after they got into the bathtub, "when you're hanging out with the guys, you don't tell them...you know..." she blushed into a deeper shade of red again, "our baths and...you know..."

"No Asa I don't tell them any of that stuff, that kind of stuff is a secret between you and me. Besides, you know I'm not the type of person who would brag off every little secret to everyone we know."

"I know that Rin, I know you're not that type of person, I know I can trust you."

"And what about you Asa? Do you ever tell the girls..."

"Nope, definetly not - if I ever said it and Kikyou heard, everyone in this city would know for sure - so again the answer is no. I don't even tell them this..."

"What?"

Rin was taken by surprise as Asa wrapped her arms around him, but instead of being in front of him, she was behind him, "remember the last time I did this?" she giggled.

"Oh I remember alright, that day on the beach a few years ago when you lost your top."

"Glad to see you didn't forget," she said while still giggling.

"I can never forget that," he said, "but there is a difference this time compared to before."

"And what..." before Asa could even finish, she felt Rin's lips touching her lips again. "Oh, aren't you romantic?" Asa smiled, "now I'll wash your back and then you can wash mine, okay?"

"Okay."

And so, Asa washed Rin's back, then he washed her's. As he did that, he would often hear her giggling, "what's so funny Asa?" he asked.

"Nothing...except you're...tickling me Rin!"

"Oh am I?"

"Rin, don't you dare..." But Rin did - he started tickling her, first he tickled her bottom, then her back and then under her armpits. "Oh you're going to get it," Asa span around and started tickling Rin.

"Stop it Asa! I give! I give! I surrender!"

"Very well then," Asa giggled, "I'll stop...for now," she added with a sly grin on her face. After all the tickling, Asa and Rin continued with their bath. Asa washed Rin's hair, then he washed Asa's light green hair, being very careful not to get any soap in her eyes.

After their bath, they got dressed and walked into the kitchen to join Ms. Ama for breakfast. For today, Rin was wearing a red T-Shirt, black jeans, grey socks and a black jacket. As for Asa, she was wearing a dark blue skirt, black socks and white shirt with sleeves, but still showed her shoulders.

As they got closer to the kitchen, they heard Ms. Ama talking to a couple of people, "I know who those voices are," smiled Asa.

They walked into the kitchen and found both Kaede and myself talking to Ms. Ama, "good morning Matthew, good morning Kaede," said Asa, "What brings you two here?"

"Well we were in the neighbourhood and thought why not drop by to say hello," I said.

Kaede nodded her head in agreement, "did you two sleep well last night?" she asked kindly.

"Yes we did," Asa nodded, "Rin especially, the moment he got into the room, he collapsed onto the bed and went to sleep and didn't wake up until he heard our noisy alarm clock. You know, he actually says he prefers hearing my voice in the morning instead of that alarm clock, I bet that sound familar, doesn't it Kaede?"

"Yes it does," she nodded and looked over to me with that cute smile of her's showing.

"So where are your little sisters?" Rin asked.

"They're at school right now," I answered, "We just dropped them off a few minutes ago. Daisy said she had to go to a club meeting and Little Sis said she just wanted to get to class before..."

"Before Rimu shows up," Kaede continued where I left off.

"Oh that's right, those two haven't made up since their fight have they?" Asa asked. Both Kaede and I shook our heads, "well I hope they will make up before they end up hurting each other."

"So do we," I agreed, "like the old saying goes 'Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining'."

"Well said Matthew," smiled Asa.

"Breakfast is ready," said Ms. Ama, "would you two like to stay for breakfast?" she asked Kaede and myself.

Both Kaede and I nodded at the same time, "of course we would," we both said in unison, "We would love to stay for breakfast," said Kaede.

"Then afterwords, we can give you a ride to your workplace Rin, what do you say that?"

"Sounds like a good plan to me," he smiled, "now let's eat, I'm starving."

"Same old Rin," Asa giggled. Kaede and I just chuckled and walked over to the counter to help Ms. Ama bring the plates over to the kitchen table.


	38. Insults Hurt

Hey guys, ThomasZoey3000 here with another chapter of Our Kinda Life. In this chapter, we get introduced to a couple more characters, these ones being introduced in Rin's workplace - we also get to see where Rin has been working since he got the job shortly after episode 10 'Romantic Evening'. This story has been inspired by a couple of people I knew, one who...well, let's just say wasn't very kind to the other person. Rating is the same as usual, there will be some swearing in this chapter and for all of you who like keeping track of the timeline, this chapter starts off on Wednesday October 12th 2011. Anyhow, that's all I have to say for now, I hope you'll enjoy the next installment of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 38: Insults Hurt**_

After we were done eating we helped Ms. Ama clean up, thanked her for breakfast and then we headed off to Rin's workplace. It wasn't just Kaede, Rin and myself, Asa came along with us because she wanted to find some music CDs.

"Hey Matthew, Kaede, have you two heard from Sia and Dave or Michael, Sakura and Rose?" Asa asked us on the way.

"We were actually just talking with Sia and Dave last night," Kaede answered, "they say that they are having a good time so far in Paris. They love checking out all the sights, but what they love the most is spending some quality time together."

"Good to hear. They deserve it after all Sia's dad and Kikyou put them through," said Rin, "I'll never understand what Eustoma's problem is, he was okay with me, but he still can't except the fact that Sia is going out with Dave."

"I think the main reason is because of trust," I said, "he trusted you to be with Sia, but that's only because he knew just what kind of person you are. Dave on the other hand - well, Sia's dad doesn't really know him that well, so he doesn't know if Dave is going to take Sia out on a date or take her back to his place, if you know what I'm saying."

"Yeah I do," Rin said nervously.

"It's just a thought, I'm not enterily sure why Sia's dad isn't comfortable with them going out together."

"Who knows," said Asa, "so what about Michael, Sakura and Rose? Have you heard from them?"

I was just about to answer Asa's question, but I didn't - mostly cause from out of nowhere, a car went flying past me and merged into our lane, slowing down in front of us. I took my foot off the pedal and swerved to the left, just missing the other car.

"Damn! That was too close!" I gasped, "who was that baka anyways?"

"Oh you'll find out soon enough," Rin muttered, but loud enough for all of us to hear.

We soon reached the parking lot of the entertainment store. Just as we were getting out, the car that had cut in front of us pulled up just two spots away. Two people came out of it a few seconds later, one was a male with dark brown hair (darker shade than my hair color) and the other person was a female with blonde hair, but with a small patch of brown at the back, she was the one who was driving.

"You shouldn't have cut those people off honey," said the man, "they could've run into us if the driver hadn't swerved away."

"Oh shut your trap already!" snapped the woman, "I knew what I was doing, there was no danger, so stop being a worry ward! If you don't like my driving, then you can walk to work! Now come on, I am not going to be late because of your stupidity!"

"Coming honey," and the man followed his wife into the store.

"Boy she's a little miss sunshine," I said sarcastically.

"Is she like that all the time Rin?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah, but that's only a small taste of the way she acts," he answered, "trust me as you go about your shopping in that entertainment store, just listen to what she says to the costumers and to her own husband."

Shortly after we started our shopping, we heard some shouting coming from the same woman from before, "do it right you baka! And speed it up already! I do not want to get into trouble because of you."

"I'm going as fast as I can honey," said her husband, "nobody's perfect you know."

"You mean you're not perfect," she said rudely, "now get back to work. I'm going for a smoke. When I return, I expect to see all those movies on the shelf."

"Yes honey."

She turned and stormed away, nudging a costumer in the shoulder as she passed.

"Hey watch where you're going!" snapped the costumer. The woman stopped, looked over her shoulder and then showed her middle finger at the costumer.

"See what I mean?" Rin whispered to Kaede and myself.

"Yes we do," Kaede nodded.

"That's the way Kira acts to Ryouko and everyone else, I see this just about every single day when I come in. Oh and if you want to hear something crazy," he said while stocking the shelves, "once she tripped a costumer on purpose, they complained to the manager and when he came out, she said in an innocent way, 'I didn't trip that person, they weren't paying attention to what they were doing and tripped on the box I was about to cut up'."

"And she got away with that?" Kaede asked.

"Yep," Rin nodded, "the manager told the costumer to be more careful and Kira got away without even a warning."

"Ah I understand her perfectly. She's one of those people who like to make others miserable to make herself happy, while at the same time she likes to think that she is perfect while others are not."

"You're not the first person to say that," called Ryouko, "lots of people have said that in the past."

"Including me," Rin muttered quietly.

"Listen, I don't want you guys to get into trouble with my wife, so please don't say those words in front of her. I don't want her feelings to be hurt."

"Very well then, we won't say a word about her," I said. It was clear that Ryouko cared alot about his wife, despite the fact that she showed very little respect.

Keeping true to my word, I never said a word to Kira, even after she tried to trip me on purpose or after she nearly punch Kaede's right shoulder. Kaede and I got what we wanted to get, payed for the items and then headed off back to the house.

Once work was done for the day, I drove over to Naomi's school to pick her up and take her to the hospital, "so how was school Little Sis?" I asked. She didn't answer me at all, she just looked down to the floor with the same sad look she's been showing over the last few days, "anything exciting happened?"

She shook her head, but still said nothing - that was until, "look out Big Bro!"

I looked ahead and saw what made Naomi gasp, a speeding car was racing past several other cars and heading straight for us. Again I took my foot off the pedal and swerved to the right this time - we just missed the car.

"That was stupid!" cried Naomi as she looked back.

"Darn it Kira, don't you know the rules of the road?" I snarled angerily under my breath.

"Kira? You mean that girl at the entertainment store Rin works at?"

"That would be her," I nodded, "you met her?"

"Unfortunately," Naomi grumbled, "I met that girl when I went to the store with..." she paused before adding quietly, "Marshall, during one of our dates," she spoke seriously after that, "that girl was extermly rude to us, she bumped me in the shoulder and as we were looking at some 'Linkin Park' CDs, she threw a piece of paper at my head and told us, 'this isn't a library you little brats, either buy a CD or get out!' And later on our way out after buying the CD, she nearly tripped Marshall."

"Huh, that sounds just like what happened when Asa, Kaede and I were some shopping earlier today."

"What is that girl's problem?" she asked, "does she take great joy in ticking people off?"

"You just answered your own question Little Sis," I said. "I think that she does take joy in ticking other people off or insulting them like she does with her husband."

"Her husband? She's actually married? Well then, I feel sorry for the poor guy, she must insult him every single time."

"I think she does, I saw her insult her husband a few times earlier today, but he never argued back."

"What?" Naomi exclaimed, "he should argue back and give that girl a taste of her own medicine!"

After our little conversation, Naomi didn't say a single word, except when she was talking to Marshall at the hospital.

At around six, we returned back to the house where we found Kaede, Daisy and Monty working together on making dinner. Also visiting were Asa and Rin, "hey you two," said Asa, "how's Marshall doing?"

Naomi kept her vow of silence, so I answered the question for her, "he's doing okay, all the bruises he got are starting to fade away..." I paused as I looked over to Rin, "what happened to you Rin?"

"What? Oh you mean this bruise? Well, you can thank Kira for that - I was stocking the shelves when she came along and said to me that I was blocking her path. When I said I would move after I was done, she picked up one of the DVD cases and smacked me in the face with it."

"It's all true," said Asa, "I saw the whole thing."

"Oh please tell me that she did not get away with doing that," I said.

"Not this time thank goodness," said Rin firmly, "our boss saw that and this time gave her a warning saying that if she does anything bad like that again, he will have no choice but to fire her, cause our boss will not stand on allowing employees to hurt the costumers or other employees."

"Well that explains her bad driving," I said, "we were nearly hit by that woman."

"What?" Kaede asked in shock.

"She was passing some other vehicles in a hurry," said Naomi, finally breaking the vow of silence, "she would've hit us head on had Big Bro not swerved to the right. She missed - just!"

"Man, that is one mean ass bitch if you know what I'm saying," said Monty.

"Monty, watch the language please," said Daisy. Monty quickly apologized, "but I do agree with you that she's not a very nice person."

"And to think," I was saying as I walked up to Kaede and giving her a hug, "her husband won't fight back and doesn't want anyone to say anything mean to her."

"It's just who Ryouko is," said Rin, "he's that type of person who cares a great deal for others, he's kind of like us when you think about it. I feel sorry for the poor guy though, I bet you that when he goes home everyday, she fights with him until they go to sleep."

"Personally, I hope they sleep in seperate rooms," said Monty, "cause if Ryouko snores, then she'll complain about that."

"Or complaining about getting up in the mornings," said Naomi.

"I remember hearing Kira say to him earlier when he was stocking some of the other shelves, she said to him 'I don't know how you manage the door in the morning, you are so stupid!' That's just horrible to say."

"I would love to give that woman a piece of my mind," grumbled Naomi.

"Voilence doesn't solve everything Little Sis..." she was about to open her mouth, "yes I know, I don't always try to talk out of a fight, but that's only because our enemies leave me no choice. There are times when you can just talk it out with the other person in order to prevent a fight...or maybe to settle an argument peacefully."

"I'm not talking to Rimu!" she snapped.

I sighed unhappily and slapped my forehead, "she sure is stubborn," I thought to myself.

"I think what Matt means is that there are other ways to sort out a problem without having to resort to voilence," Daisy spoke up, "like he said, talk to this person."

"Good luck there," huffed Rin, "Kira listens to no one but herself, or the boss whenever he wants her to do something," he sighed, "I just wish there was something we could do to help him."

The following next morning, we arrived at the entertainment store to see how Ryouko was doing. We found him working behind the counter, "hey buddy," said Rin, "what are you doing here alone? I thought you and your wife came together."

"Normally yes, except on days she doesn't feel like driving to work with me, mostly because she thinks I'll embarrass her."

Speaking of Kira, she came walking in with a coffee in her left hand. She walked up to one of the other costumers and kicked them in the right leg, "honey!" called Ryouko, "please don't that!"

"Oh shut your trap!" she snapped, "I do whatever I want, whenever I want!" She walked sternly up to him, "why are you talking to these losers when you should be doing your job?"

"I am doing my job honey, the boss wants me to work behind the counter today."

"Yeah well change of plans," she snapped, "I will work behind the counter while you stock the shelves! I'm not going to let you sit on your lazy ass all day! Now get out of there before I make you!" She walked up to the counter and nearly punched Kaede in the right arm, luckily she moved out of the way, "buy something or go home bitch!" she said rudely to my wife.

"Hey!" I snapped angerily at her, "don't you ever call her a bitch!"

"Oh shut up you stupid bastard!" she snapped back, "I can do whatever I want, which includes calling this loser a bitch! Now unless you're going to buy something, then I suggest you get out!"

"I'm sorry about this sir," Ryouko said kindly,"she's..."

"Did I tell you to speak? Well did I? Answer me you fucking bastard!" Ryouko didn't answer back, "you're useless! Now will you get out there and do your fucking job!"

"Very well honey," he said calmly.

He was just about to walk out, when Kira kicked him from behind with her left foot - he was pushed so far forward that he fell to the floor, just missing the other counter.

"Get up you baka!" she snapped, "I don't have time for you to lay down on the floor all day."

"Yes honey, of course honey," he said calmly, but as he got to his feet, he groaned in pain. "I think I twisted my ankle," he said, "I think I better go to the doctor."

"Oh that's just great," groaned Kira, "that will mean more work for me!" She grabbed a DVD case that was sitting on the counter, walked over to her husband - then she smacked him three times with it, "you are not leaving me to do all the work around here! You will get back to work, do you hear me you stupid baka? Did you hear me?" She smacked him one more time, then she was smacked across the right side of the face.

Who did that you ask, well - it was Rin, "whoa Rin," I gasped.

"You don't usually hit women Rin," said Asa, she was also in shock. Kaede was in so much shock that she was speechless.

"Normally I don't, but I had to do something, I just couldn't stand by and allow this abuse to go on anymore. I'm sure anyone of you would've done the same thing."

Kira groaned as she got to her feet, she stared angerily at Rin, "how dare you hit a lady!" she snapped.

"You're no lady," Rin said firmly, "you insult your husband, you kick him when he's dome, sometimes literally, you insult all the costumers..."

"You drive like a lunatic, nearly hitting other people on the road," I added, "you try to punch or trip people even though they didn't do anything wrong...you are one inconsiderate baka."

"Oh shut your trap!" she snapped angerily at us and raising her voice to the point where she was shouting, "I can do whatever I want, whenver I want!"

"Not this time you're not," said a firm voice from behind her. She spun round, ready to snap at the person, but she didn't. The main reason was because the person standing behind her was her boss, "I saw what you did to your husband and what you tried to do to that nice young lady."

"Sir, I'm just reminding people that this is a store, not a place where you can hang out with friends and I was also trying to get my dumbass husband off his butt and get him to do some real work."

"Oh really?" her boss said while raising an eyebrow, "did you not know that I told him to do this job today?"

"Ah...well..."

"You knew I gave him that job, yet - you tried to force him to do another job instead, aganist my orders! On top of all that," her boss continued, "you whacked your husband and Rin with DVD cases, we do not allow public beatings in this store! Nor do I allow such rude behaviour in this store - to put it simply my dear, you _cannot_ do whatever you want, _whenever_ you want." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper.

"Oh yeah, I know what he's going to do next," I thought to myself, "I've seen this before."

"Here is your check, it's double your usual amount."

"Well thank you sir, I guess it's because of all my hard work huh?"

"A little bit yeah, but that check is to help you out while you look for a new job."

"Yep, I knew that was going to happen," I whispered quietly to Kaede.

Kira's eyes popped wide open in surprise, "what? But sir, you can't fire me. If you do, then my husband will slack off, you'll lose business and you'll have people coming in not buying anything - you can't get rid of me."

"Oh but I can, after seeing your voilent outbursts, I cannot allow you to work here any longer, not unless you tone it down."

"I will not tone it down! I have to be firm, otherwise you're going to have people walking all over you!"

"Then I have no choice but to let you go," said the boss.

"Fine!" snapped Kira, "I'm going, and so is my dimwitted husband, he quits too! Come on stupid, let's go!"

"No, I won't," he groaned, "I'm not going anywhere with you anymore and I'm not quitting this job."

"What?" she asked angerily, "are you talking back to me baka? You're not suppose to be doing that, you will do as I say, do I make myself clear? Or do you need me to smack you again?"

"You can smack me all you want, I'm not going anywhere with you anymore. I'm tired of being bullied by you, you treat me like crap and kicking me when I'm down, especially when I'm injuried. We're threw, do you hear me? I'm divorcing you!"

"What?" she shierked, "you're going to divorce me? You're going to be sorry baka! You will become a lazy slob who has no clue on what to do...you will be sorry for doing this!"

"No, I won't," he said firmly.

Kira snarled angerily at him, then she walked out of the store. Rin walked up to his friend, "how do you feel Ryouko?"

"Well besides the pain I feel in my leg, I feel okay - that felt good just standing up to that bitch...ah, pardon my language," he said while groaning. He turned around and looked over to his boss, "sir, I really need to go to the doctor's, but I'll try to make it back as soon as I can."

"There's no need Ryouko, take as much time as you need and if you need some time off, then it's okay with me."

"I'll take you to see the doctor Ryouko," Rin said kindly.

"Thank you," Ryouko smiled, "I'm very lucky to have good friends like you guys." With a little help from Asa and Rin, Ryouko was helped out of the store and into Rin's van, then they left for the hospital.

Once they were gone, Kaede and I got into the Chevy Blazer and headed for 'Tech Corner'.

Later that evening, Kaede and I were once again working together on making dinner when we got a phone call from both Rin and Asa, "hey you two, how's Ryouko?" I asked.

"He's doing okay," Asa answered, "no bones were broken, but his leg is going to be in a cast for a while."

"Is he still planning on going back to work?" Kaede asked.

"Not for a couple of days," Rin answered, "he's going to rest for a bit before getting back to work."

"That's good to know, but what about Kira? Has he heard anything from his soon to be ex-wife?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, he heard from her alright. She's threatening to take everything from him, the house, the car and everything he owns, but Ryouko says he's not going to give up, he's going to fight his wife and make she doesn't get custody of everything he owns. He knows it's going to be hard, but he said he's willing to try and prove to his wife that he's not a pushover anymore."

"Well wish him luck from both of us okay?"

"You got it..." Asa replied back just as her mother called out to them, "we got to go now, we'll talk to you two later."

"Talk to you later," Kaede and I said in unison.

After hanging up, Kaede and I walked back into the kitchen to continue work on dinner.


	39. Handywork

Well it's been a while since Matthew and Kaede have had a chapter all to themselves, so I decided that for this story it could be about them again. I don't really have that much to say except that this Chapter's date starts on October 14th 2011 and the rating is still the same as always and now my friends, here's the 39th chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 39: Handywork**_

After visiting the hospital to see Marshall that Friday afternoon, Naomi and I returned back to the house feeling tired, "four tests in one day," groaned Naomi, "that was brutal, I don't think I'll be able to write for two weeks."

"That's nothing, try writing up eight tests in one day, now that is brutal," I said.

"Did you do that Big Bro?"

"Yep, for one day every single month when I was in elementary school," I answered, "now where are Kaede, Daisy and Monty?"

No sooner had I asked that question then my baby sister Daisy came walking over to where we were, "hey Matt," she smiled, "Monty and I are in the living room right now working on our homework and Kaede's upstairs taking a bath."

"Okay thanks for informing me Daisy," I said, "I think I'll go upstairs to talk to her."

"Big Bro!" Naomi shouted, "you can't go in there, that's an invasion of privacy!"

I stopped walking and turned to look over to Naomi, "you want to talk to me about privacy?" I asked while raising an eyebrow, "I seem to recall a little girl who snuck into my bedroom early in the morning and slammed symbols in my ears and how about all those times Kaede and I are either hugging or kissing? Hmm? I seem to recall a little redhead saying 'get a room you two', now does that sound familar to you Little Sis?"

"Ah..." she was silent, she didn't know what to say in response to that.

After a few seconds or so, the shock wore off and she walked off to the living room. Daisy chuckled quietly, "that got her big time," she smiled at me, "anyways if you need us, you know where we will be."

"Right," I nodded, "see you in a bit Daisy."

She nodded back before returning to the Living room. As for me, I walked up the stairs to the bedroom, placed my keys on the computer table and walked over to the bathroom.

I knocked a few times, "who is it?" I heard Kaede's voice call.

"It's me Kaede, can I come in?"

"Of course you can Matthew."

So I turned the handle and walked into the washroom and walked over to another door...in case you don't know already, the bathtub and shower is in a seperate room within the washroom, the entire room itself has bluish green tiles. Anyways, I walked in and found Kaede sitting in the bathtub and she was smiling.

"Be careful as you walk in Matthew," she said to me, "the floor is a little slippery."

"Thanks for the warning Kaede." I grabbed the little stool and walked over carefully. I placed the stool next to the tub and sat down on it, "how was your day honey?"

"It was okay, I did some of my usual chores today like doing the laundry, washing the dishes, pots and pans, watered the garden and made the beds too. What about you dear?" she asked in the sweetest way, "how was your day?"

Just hearing her ask me about my day in the sweetest way just made me blush, "it was okay, Al and I did about twenty three demostrations in one show - that's a new record right there, as you know we usually do about ten to fifteen demostrations everytime."

"What were your demostrations about?"

"All this week we've been showing demostrations on how to do handywork, you know like electricial work, plumbing or any kinda handywork that needs to be done around the house. It's actually simple if you know what you're doing, if you don't - well I think you what happens then."

"The work doesn't get done properly, am I right?" I nodded my head. "Matthew, I was wondering, could you teach me a bit about handywork?"

"You want to learn how to do handywork?"

"Yes," she nodded, "I would like to learn how to do handywork so that maybe I can help you with some of your projects, would that be okay dear?" she asked sweetly again.

Just hearing her say that made me blush into an even deeper shade of red, "of course it would be okay Kaede, I can teach you anything you want to know about handywork. When do you start these lessons?"

"How about tomorrow, would that be okay?"

"Of course it's okay Kaede, I can start teaching you about handywork after breakfast tomorrow."

"Thank you Matthew," she smiled while she showed me that cute angel like smile.

So the following next morning, after we were done eating breakfast and after all the dishes had been washed, we went outside to get started on those lessons. The best way I was going to teach Kaede some of those handyman lessons was to work on the new desk that was to go in Naomi's room...in case you're wondering, she did have a table in her room, but it broke one evening (just a few nights before Kaede and I celebrated our Anniversary).

Today, it was nice and sunny out, albeit a little chilly, but that was okay.

Oh and if you're wondering, since we have no garage, where do I keep my tools? Well, I keep them in a couple of toolboxes behind the second seat in the truck, orginally I had them the special toolbox in the back of my old pick-up truck, somehow most of my tools weren't damaged badly when my truck collided with Charlie Bank's car.

Anyways, once the tools had been brought out, Kaede and I got started in making the plans for the new desk, "I have a suggestion Matthew if you would like to hear it."

"I'm all ears Kaede," I smiled.

"Well you know how Naomi has so many manga books right? Well for her new desk, why don't we add three or four shelves on the right side for some of her mangas?"

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea to me, she does have tonnes of manga sitting outside of her bookcase." I drew the shelves onto the plans for the desk, "I'm going to go upstairs and measure the length, width and height of one of those books, then when I return, we'll get started okay?"

"Okay," she nodded.

I got to my feet, then I walked into the house - I returned a minute and a half later and wrote down the measurements, "okay now that we got the measurements, let's start making that table. First we need to measure just how long we want the table top to be - care to do the honors Kaede?"

"Yes," she nodded as I handed her the measuring tape. Looking over the measurements I had gotten earlier that morning, she marked just how much wood we needed to cut, "okay it's all marked."

"Okay thanks Kaede. Now for the fun part," I put on my safety glasses and handed a second pair to Kaede, then I grabbed my circular saw, "here we go." With a flick of a switch, it started up within seconds. Kaede nearly jumped in surprise as it started, "is something wrong Kaede?"

"No nothing's wrong Matthew, it's just that saw scared me for a second. I didn't know it was that loud."

"Yes a saw can be loud, but after a while you'll get used to it. Plus one of these saws is better than using a hand held saw cause you can make a better cut of the wood than you would with a hand saw."

"Plus these saws are saver to use than hand held saws right?"

"You guessed correct Kaede, if you're paying attention to what you're doing and if you marked the board perfectly, which you did by the way," I added with a smile, "then yeah it is saver to use. Would you like to do the next cut?"

"Ah...sure," she said a little nervously.

Kaede grabbed the saw and placed it just before the line she made on the board, "now pull on the trigger slowly and then push and most importantly, keep your other hand at a safe distance from the line you're about to cut."

"Okay," she nodded. She placed her hand on the board a safe distance from the line, but still holding it down to make sure it didn't slip away from her. Now she was ready, she pulled on the trigger slowly and the blades started to turn, then she pushed along the board until she reached the spot where I stopped my last cut.

"Nice job Kaede," I smiled, "and nice cut too."

"Thank you Matthew."

"Hey you two," called another voice. We looked over to the gate and saw who the voice belonged to, it was Lance, "what are you two doing today?"

"We're making a new desk for Naomi's room," said Kaede, "and Matthew's teaching me a bit about handywork."

"That's nice of him and I'm sure Little Sis will appreciate having a new desk..." he paused as he looked over to the doorway. We looked over to the doorway too and saw a sad looking Naomi waiting there, "hey sis, how are you doing?"

"Okay I guess," she muttered, "I'm ready to go."

"Okay sis, but before we head over to the hospital, is there anywhere you would like to go first?" he asked.

"No," she answered while shaking her head, "I just want to go to the hospital."

Lance looked at his baby sister with a look of concern, he too didn't like seeing her miserable, "very well then Little Sis, let's get going. We'll see you two later," he called to Kaede and myself.

"Bye," Naomi said quietly and followed her big brother out to the sidewalk.

"Have a good day you two," Kaede and I called out to them before going back to work. "Okay so what do we do next?"

"Well next up is to make the table top, we've already cut that one piece of wood which will be the top of the table, later we'll cut up more pieces of wood for the bottom of the table. First off up though, we need to create the frame for the table. We're going to cut a few pieces of plywood strips to the correct length, these will be for the sides of the table, once we're done there, we'll glue and nail the crosspieces to one of the strips, each one should be at least 47 inches from each other. Now Kaede, would you like to cut up the strips?"

"Yes," she nodded. So once the plywood strips were secured down safely on my workbench, Kaede marked the strips and then cut them.

"Perfect, nice job there Kaede."

"Thank you Matthew," she smiled.

Now with the strips at the length we wanted it to be, it was time to measure for where the crosspieces were going to be, "care to do the honors Kaede?" I asked while holding out the measuring tape.

"Yes," she nodded as she accepted it. She did a good job, she correctly measured 47 inches, drew a line to help us later, then measured another 47 inches, "okay, I'm done here."

"Good, now we can start gluing and nailing the crosspieces." I started us off by first gluing one piece of the crosspiece wood, then nailed it down, "a good tip here is to use small nails, you don't want to use big ones because..."

"Bigger nails would split the wood right?"

"That's right Kaede, it would split the wood - allow me to demostrate with a couple of scrap pieces." I grabbed two pieces of wood we were not going to use, then I picked up my hammer and a big nail and tried to hammer it into the wood, but it only split.

"Not really a good choice," she giggled.

"Nope, definetly not," I chuckled.

With that little demostration done, we went back to work until at last the frame was ready for the top. Then after placing glue on the frame, Kaede and I together brought the piece of wood we cut to size earlier over to the frame.

"Alright Kaede, next we need to..."

"Hammer in the nails right?" she asked.

"Yes that's it excatly," I smiled, "you're a good student Kaede."

"Thank you Matthew. You know you're not the first person who said to me," she giggled quietly. I was about to say something when Kaede said, "and yes I know that's what you usually say."

"And you knew I was going to say that," I chuckled quietly, "are you becoming a mind reader or something?"

Both Kaede and I chuckled quietly and then went back to nailing down the piece of board.

After cutting some more boards, we went inside to get something to drink and then went back outside to do some more work, "okay Matthew, what's next?" Kaede asked.

"Well next up are the legs for the table. Now here's how we're going to do it, we're going to place two pieces of wood on one side of the board, then the other two pieces will be at least 45 inches away from the other end of the table..."

"That will leave plenty of room for the shelves we're going to add right?"

"Yep, that will leave enough room for the books."

"Okay, but what about the pieces of plywood we cut earlier?"

"Well once we add the legs, we install some of them underneath the table and the rest will cover both sides and the back of the desk. Once we're done there, we'll make the shelves, add the primer on and then we'll take it up to Little Sis's room."

With that said, Kaede and I went to work. While I installed one of the legs into the table, Kaede measured another one and then using the measurements, she marked just how much wood we would have to cut off (oh and if you're wondering, when did I get the wood? Well I got it yesterday morning before I went into work).

After that, Kaede once again measured the boards and then cut them to the correct length, "okay, they're ready," she said.

"Good work Kaede," I smiled, "I just finished installing the fourth leg onto the table."

Kaede grabbed one of the boards and brought it over to the left side of the table, "Kaede, would you like to do the honors of screwing in the screws?" I asked.

"Yes," she nodded happily.

"Okay," I smiled and handed her the cordless drill.

I explained about the different settings on it like reserve and hammer, "thank you for the information Matthew, now I understand how to use this drill better than I did before, you're a really good teacher."

"You know, that's not the first time I heard someone say that," I smiled, "and thanks Kaede."

Kaede just smiled back, then she screwed in the screws right into the left sided legs. She handed the drill back to me, "it's your turn dear."

"Thank you honey." I grabbed another piece of board and screwed it in all the screws. Then together, Kaede and I screwed in the screws for the right side of the table.

"Okay what's next Matthew?"

"Well next, we're going to add in the pull out drawer for the table," I said as I pulled out my tape measure, "first things first, we need to once again measure the length, width and height, then..." I paused.

"We mark the boards ready for cutting."

"Correct," I nodded, "then once we cut the wood, we'll glue and nail them together, make a small handle for it and then add the drawer slides. So Kaede, you ready to do this?"

"Yep," she nodded happily.

I started us off by taking the measurements for the length, width and the height. When I was done there, I gave Kaede the measurements and she marked the boards, then we took turns cutting the boards until we had all the pieces we wanted. After that, we worked together in gluing and nailing the pieces together until the drawer was completed.

"I'll add the slides in next," said Kaede. Using the measurements written down the piece of paper, Kaede postioned both slides perfectly, "can you pass me that level Matthew?"

"Sure Kaede," I said and handed it to her (if you're wondering, I told her how to use it when we went in earlier).

Anyways, she placed it between the two slides, the little bubble moved a bit until it stopped right in between the two black lines, "perfect," she smiled, "now all that's left is the shelves and then we stain this and then take it up to Naomi's room."

"Right," I nodded.

In less than twenty minutes, both Daisy and Monty returned from their little day out into the city only to find that we had completely finished the table, "wow, this looks great you two," said Daisy, "not only will she have a place to put her papers, pencils and all her supplies, but she'll also have a place for her manga books. She's going to love this."

Monty nodded his head in agreement, "So when are you going to bring it up to her room?"

"Right after the varnish dries," I answered, "which should be in an hour or so."

"So Kaede, how was it being taught by my big brother?" Daisy asked.

"It was wonderful, I learned a lot about tools and handywork that I never knew before. Like I told him before, he's a really good teacher," she turned towards me, "thank you for the lessons Matthew, I'm looking forward to learning more from you."

"You're welcome Kaede, I enjoyed teaching you, you're a really good student."

"Next time you teach Kaede more about tools and handywork, do you mind teaching me?" Daisy asked, "I've always wanted to know how to use tools and how to build certain things."

"Well Daisy, I could teach you too," I said.

"Great, thanks," she smiled.

So while we waited for the varnish to dry, we went inside to relax and watch a movie for a bit (the movie was 'Rush Hour').

By the time we were ready to bring the desk up to Naomi's room, both Naomi and Lance had returned from the hospital. Just like before, Naomi had that same sad look across her face.

"Hey Naomi," said Daisy, "take a look at the desk Kaede and Matthew built for you."

"We installed some shelves for your manga books," said Kaede, "and we also added a pull out drawer for all your supplies like pencils, paper, pens or whatever else you want to put in there." Naomi took a good look at it, "what do you think of it Naomi?"

"Looks good," she answered quietly, "I like it."

"Glad to hear it," I smiled, "now let's get this desk up to your room, Lance, Monty, do you mind giving me a hand with this?"

"Sure," they both said in unison.

Before we could take it up, Kaede took out the drawer and Daisy made sure the pathway was clear for us. The desk was heavy, but with a lot of teamwork, we got it into the house, up the stairs and over to Naomi's room. We had to be very careful as to not scratch the floor - at last though, we were able to put Naomi's desk in it's proper spot.

"Now that looks much better than the table Naomi had in here before," said Daisy, "what do you think of it Naomi?"

"It looks nice," she answered as she walked into the room. She grabbed a few of her books and put them on one of the shelves, "thank you for making it for me," she said.

"You're welcome Naomi," Kaede smiled, "we were happy to make this for you." I nodded my head in agreement.

Later on that evening, I was online talking with my friends on the Sodor Island Forums, "we were actually starting to get worried about you Matthew," said Metamorphical's message, "is everything okay over there?"

"Yeah everything is okay over here, apart from Naomi still being depressed, I got involved in two fights with Charlie Banks, Ryan and Emily broke up and then there was the ordeal at Rin's workplace, other than that everything's been fine."

"You were involved in two more fights with Charlie Banks?" Sierracat27's message showed, "what did he do? Attack the guards and escaped in a police car?"

"Yep," I replied back.

"That ordeal at Rin's workplace, what do you mean by that?" Warrior's message showed. I typed in every bit of detail of what happened between Ryouko and Kira. "At least she got what she deserved, what was her problem anyways? Why was she acting like that to everyone?"

"I don't know and to be honest here, I don't think we'll ever know."

"I'm actually quite surprised that Rin was the one who punched her," said Anime Boy's message.

"Yeah we were all surprised by what Rin did, but it just goes to show you that he is a kind caring friend."

Everyone of my friends agreed to that. Anime Boy also added in his message, "take care of Naomi, I have a feeling that things between her and Primula will get worse before they get better."

"Well done worry, we're all be keeping an eye on her," I replied back.

I chatted with my friends for another five minutes, then I logged off and shut down my computer. Kaede came in just as I was shutting down, she was wearing her nearly white pajamas that look similar to her white dress. I got up from my chair, walked up to her and gave her our usual hug for a minute.

After our hug, we climbed into bed and layed down side by side, "are you feeling comfortable Kaede?" I asked.

"Yes I am," she nodded. "I'll see you in the morning Matthew."

"And I'll see you in the morning Kaede," I said while winking, she giggled happily like always. She moved forwards a bit until our lips connected and we kissed for a couple of minutes, "I love you honey."

"And I love you too dear," she said with that cute tone in her voice again, and with our hands holding onto each other, we closed our eyes and went happily to sleep.


	40. The Calm Before the Storm

It's been a while since we last heard from Primula, but now in this chapter we finally get to see her once again. In this chapter, this will be the first time since chapter 32 that Naomi and Primula will talk face to face, but will things turn out well? Well, I know the answer to that question, but I can't reveal the answer cause then I would be spoiling the story. Now before we begin, this chapter's date is Sunday October 16th 2011, rating is still the same as there will be some swearing included, oh and before I forget, Naomi and Primula might go out of character in this very chapter. Anyways, that's all I have to say for now, I hope you will enjoy the 40th chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 40: The Calm Before the Storm**_

It was raining again on that Sunday morning. Naomi and Lance went to the hospital to see Marshall again, Daisy and Monty were playing some of my X-Box games...for the record, Daisy did ask me if she and Monty could play some of those games and I said yes. As for Kaede and myself, we decided to go over to the Megamall.

"Would it be okay if we do some clothes shopping Matthew?" Kaede asked me, "I just need to get some new dresses."

"Of course it's okay Kaede, we can do some clothes shopping," I answered, "truth be told I need to get some new T-Shirts myself, I go threw more clothes than our Little Sis does..." I paused, "I hope she's alright. She's almost lost of her sense of humor, I mean sure she still jokes around once and a while, but not often as she did before."

"Yeah," Kaede sighed quietly, "it's almost the same with Rimu, from what Max said when he came by on Friday. That cheerful attitude of her's is just disappearing. She even scared Max the other day."

"What do you mean?"

"Well from what I was told, she asked Max to touch her, she didn't care at all if he did it."

My eyes popped wide open in surprise, "are you serious? Our Primula said that to Max?"

"Yes, and Max kept refusing to do it. After a few minutes or so, she snapped out of it and apologized to Max for scaring him."

"At least she snapped out of it - oh gosh, I hope she doesn't get one of those moments when they're in school or out shopping, cause then she would really be in trouble."

"Yes she would, I hope she's okay too. Maybe we should drop by Max and Monty's house tonight and talk with her a bit."

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea to me," I nodded in agreement.

We had no need to do that though as we were due to find out. We soon arrived at the store, "if you want to go look at the T-Shirts Matthew, you can go ahead and look," said Kaede, "I don't want you to get bored waiting for me."

"It's okay Kaede, I don't mind waiting," I said kindly, "besides I never get bored when I'm with you."

"Oh Matthew," she smiled.

And so, the two of us walked over to the dress department of the store. Kaede found quite a few dresses she really liked, some of which actually looked close enough to some of the dresses she wears. One such dress looked so close to her original black dress with the white shirt.

The store has a changing room, so after finding that dress, Kaede went in to try it on. While she was in there, out of the corner of my right eye, I thought I saw something who looked familar.

"What are you looking at Matthew?" Kaede asked me. I looked back and saw Kaede wearing that dress and shirt.

"Ah, for a moment I thought I saw someone who looked familar."

"Who?"

"Well...it was Primula."

"Rimu?" Kaede looked all around the store, "where is she?"

I looked around, but I couldn't find her, "I thought I saw her...I guess I must be seeing things," I turned my attention back to Kaede, "that dress looks great on you Kaede."

"You mean it?" she asked. I nodded my head happily, "okay then, I'll get this dress. I'll be back in a minute okay?"

"Okay Kaede," I called to her as she walked back into the changing room. While I waited for her to come out, I looked around to see if I could find Primula, but I still couldn't find her, "I must be seeing things," I thought to myself, "cause I thought for sure I saw her walking past."

After Kaede had tried on a couple more dresses, we walked over to the male shirt department of the store where I found a few T-Shirts.

While I was trying a couple on, Kaede thought she saw someone who looked familar, "Rimu?" she looked around, but couldn't find her either.

"You saw her too huh?" I asked as I came out with the first T-Shirt on.

"Yes I did, but I can't find her either," she turned her attention back to me, "the shirt looks great on you Matthew."

"Thanks Kaede, I'll get this one too. I'm going to get changed, I'll be right back," I turned and walked back into the changing room.

After I was done, I walked out to rejoin Kaede. I was about to say something when we both heard, "Matthew? Kaede?" We both looked over to the direction of the voice - it was Primula!

"Rimu!" Kaede smiled. She walked up to Primula and gave her a hug, "how are you doing?"

"Okay I guess, but I really miss you guys."

"Well hey we miss you too," I said kindly. I was just smiling, "I thought I saw you earlier."

"Well you did, I was actually walking around threw that apartment of the store looking at some of the clothes there. I guess it was a lucky decision to come here today huh?" Both Kaede and I nodded happily, "to think I come here looking for clothes and I run into you two, what are the odds? So how are things at home?"

"Everything is okay," Kaede said, "well all except for Naomi, she's losing her sense of humor and just about everyday, we see her sad. She really misses you Rimu."

"Well I miss her too," she sighed quietly. Her smile quickly returned though, "so what else has been going on at home?"

"Tell you what, why don't you us buy our clothes, then we'll go over to the food court, get something to eat and we'll tell you everything okay?" I suggested. Primula nodded in agreement to the idea. So after Kaede and I had payed for the clothes, we headed off to the food court, got something to eat and updated Primula on everything that's been going on since the last time we spoke with her.

"Wow, you guys have been keeping yourselves busy," Primula said after a while, "I've only been out of the house for...ah, long has it been?"

"Well let's see, you left on the 5th and today is the 16th, so eleven days, almost two weeks," I answered.

"Really? Hmm. It feels a lot longer than that."

"Rimu," Kaede spoke up, "Max told us last weekend that you were going to talk to Naomi last week..."

"Yeah I was, I had been thinking about talking with Little Sis again, but I never got the chance for two reasons, one was because all my school work and secondly was because..."

"You were worried of what Little Sis would have to say the minute she saw you right?" I asked.

"Yeah, you guessed right Matthew," Primula nodded, "I was just worried of what she would say or do if she saw me again. Remember, I wasn't in her good books last time we spoke...I think that's how you say it, I'm not sure...ah anyways," she said snapping out of her thoughts, "I was actually thinking that maybe after I'm done my shopping today, maybe I could drop by the house and talk to Little Sis and see if we can settle this feud for good...using words of course."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," I smiled, "if you want Primula, you can come with us when we go home."

"Really?"

"Yes," Kaede nodded happily.

"Thank you, it'll be great to go home again."

After we were done eating, the three of us walked around the mall a bit doing some more shopping until we were finally ready to go back to the house. The rain had lightened up as we walked out, but it came down hard on the way home, it was actually difficult to see.

"This is almost like that day we went to get that Christmas tree a couple of years ago, remember that?"

"Yes Primula, I do remember that," I answered, "it was hard seeing where we were going then too. Lucky for us though I know the route back home like the back of my hand." Kaede and Primula giggled quietly when they heard me say that.

After a few minutes, we finally arrived back at the house, "home sweet home," Primula said quietly.

The rain was still coming down hard, so we had to run inside the house. By the time we got inside, we were soaked from head to toe, "I'll get us a few towels," Kaede said and walked over to the kitchen.

"Thank you Kaede," Primula and I called in unison.

No sooner had Kaede walked into the kitchen then we saw little Bridget walking up to the doorway. She stared at Primula, then backed up slowly, "Bridget, don't you remember me?" Primula asked, "it's me, Rimu." Bridget stopped, stared at Primula again, then she walked forward towards her.

Primula held out her hand and Bridget sniffed it - a second later, Bridget rubbed herself aganist Primula's legs.

"Nice kitty," Primula smiled and started patting Bridget on top of her head. Bridget purred loudly, it was clear to see that she was happy to see Primula again.

After we had dried ourselves off, we went upstairs to Primula's room, "we haven't touched your room since you left Rimu," said Kaede.

"Thank you, that means so much to me," a small tear appeared in Primula's left eye. She wiped it away before looking back over to us, "so where are Daisy, Monty and Little Sis?"

"Our little Sis must still be out right now and as for Daisy and Monty, I didn't see them when we came in, so they must've gone out..."

"Is anyone home?" we heard a voice call.

"We're upstairs!" I called back.

Less than a minute later, Daisy and Monty came walking up the stairwell, "hey you two, how come you're standing in..." before Daisy could even finish what she was saying, the answer to her question came walking over to the doorway, "hey Rimu, what brings you here?"

"I came to talk with Little Sis, I want to put an end to the feud between us and move back in here with you guys again."

"Well it sounds like a good plan," said Monty, "you better hope though that Naomi will be in a listening mood. Lately she hasn't been acting like herself, she's becoming depressed and she hardly ever speaks."

"I know that, Matthew and Kaede told me that earlier..." she paused before asking, "does she still think the accident with Marshall is my fault?"

"Afraid so," Daisy nodded unhappily, "she still believes it was and still _is_ your fault. So you might want to be careful with what you're going to say to her."

"Don't worry Daisy, I will be careful."

While we waited for Naomi and Lance to come back, we played some video games in the living room and talked a bit with Primula. At around four, Naomi and Lance returned, they were also soaked from head to toe.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Lance, "it's really coming down hard out there. I have a feeling that we're going to be getting a thunderstorm tonight."

"The weather reporter did say that we're going to be getting a thunderstorm tonight," said Kaede, "maybe it would be best if you stay here with us tonight Lance."

"It's sweet of you to offer and all, but I'm sure I can make it back to my place before the storm arrives."

"No stay," Naomi said quietly, "I don't want you getting sick...I don't want to worry about my big brother too."

Lance gave in when he heard his little sister say that, "very well, I'll stay here with you guys tonight, I just need to call the Nakata family and let them know of where I'm going to be." He pulled out his cellphone, "shoot! The battery's gone dead..."

"Please don't say that word in front of me," Naomi groaned sadly.

"Sorry Sis, I forgot," Lance apologized, "ah would it be okay if I use your phone?" he asked us.

"Of course you can Lance," said Kaede, "there's a phone just down the hallway just after the stairwell."

"Thanks, this will only be a minute."

With that said, Lance walked over to where the phone was, "now if you'll excuse me, I'm going up to my room," Naomi said quietly, "call me when dinner is ready."

"Little Sis?" a voice called out. Naomi's eyes popped wide open in surprise - a second later, the owner of the voice came walking out.

"Big Sis?" Naomi gasped.

Primula showed a small smile, "that's right Little Sis, it is me. I've come to talk to you and to end this feud between us. I've really missed you Little Sis, it almost feels like it's been two years since we last spoke."

"It's only been eleven days," Naomi said quietly, lowering her eyes to the floor.

"I know, but it feels a lot longer than that," Primula walked slowly forwards towards Naomi, "I know you haven't been happy since I moved out. Well now I want to help you smile again and hopefully we can be friends again. What do you say Little Sis?" she raised her right hand up and placed it softly on Naomi's left shoulder, "do you want to talk for a bit?"

Naomi didn't answer her question, she remained quiet and looked down to the floor.

The look in Naomi's eyes reminded me of Anime Boy's message from yesterday, _"__take care of Naomi, I have a feeling that things between her and Primula will get worse before they get better." _After snapping out of my thoughts, I looked back over to Naomi and saw nothing but pure anger in her eyes.

"Primula! Get away from her!" I shouted.

Too little, too late as Naomi's fist met with Primula's stomach, hitting her hard.

"Little Sis..." Primula groaned.

"There is nothing to talk about and for crying out loud, don't you dare call me 'Little Sis'. That's reserved for my big brothers and the rest of my family."

"But I am part of your family Little Sis," Primula groaned while getting up.

"No you're not!" Naomi shouted, her left hand made contact with the right side of Primula's face as she slapped the poor purple haired girl, "as far as I'm concerned, my big sister disappeared a long time ago and in her place is a bitch who cares nothing for feelings and has a strong hatred towards both myself and Marshall."

"I was just telling you..."

"Oh shut your trap already! It's thanks to you that Marshall is in the hospital, it's your fault he's in a coma and it's your fault I'm miserable all the time. I hate you Primula!"

"You don't really mean that."

"Oh but I do, not get the fuck out of my house and don't you dare come back!"

"Whoa Naomi, since when do you say..."

Daisy placed her hand over Monty's mouth and shook her head, "it's better if you don't say anything right now," she said quietly to him, "otherwise it just might make this situation worse...although," she paused while looking back over to the two girls, "I think it's going to get worse than it was before."

"Little Sis, can't we just talk?" Primula asked.

"There is nothing for us to talk about, now get out!" Again, Naomi threw a punch at Primula, smacking her hard in the face, making her nose bleed. "Maybe you didn't hear me clearly, I said GET OUT!" A punch was thrown towards Primula's stomach.

"Fine, I'll leave," Primula groaned quietly, "thanks for inviting me over Kaede, but it seems that I'm still not welcomed here."

She walked slowly over to the doorway and got into her shoes. She had hardly walked out when Naomi charged at her and did a flying tackle, making Primula fall onto the grass outside. "I'll make you pay for what you did to Marshall, you bitch!"

Naomi tried to punch Primula again, but her fist never made contact - mostly because Primula had caught her fist with her hand, "Fine, if you all want to do is fight, then let's fight!" Using her other fist, Primula threw a punch right at Naomi on the right side of her face, then Primula kicked Naomi in the stomach, "now get off of me you little pest!" Using another kick, Primula was able to kick Naomi off.

Naomi was groaning in pain, but still she got to her feet and punched Primula in the stomach. Going for a second punch, Naomi was stopped...then she flew back until she landed on the wet grass.

"Have you forgotten that I have powers?" Primula asked angerily, "I can kick your sorry ass without breaking a sweat."

"I like to see you try you fucking bitch!" Naomi charged at Primula, swinging her fists at the purple haired girl and with Primula trying to punch her back or trying to kick Naomi down.

"Naomi! Rimu! Stop fighting!" Kaede cried, "voilence doesn't solve anything!"

Her shouts fell on deaf ears. Primula and Naomi continued fighting each other, each punch and kick was just as brutal as the last one.

"I've had enough of this!" Primula said angerily, she focused her powers again, lifting Naomi off the ground, "I tried to be nice, but you chose to settle this the hard way. I am not responsible for what happened to your so called wonderful boyfriend, it is not my fault. I was just warning you to be careful, but you took it the wrong way! If you want to blame anyone for what happened to him, you should take a good long look in the mirror." Focusing again, Primula made Naomi fly till she fell back onto the wet grass.

"No, it's not my fault, it's all your fault!" Naomi groaned as she got to her feet, "and I will make you pay for what you did!"

The two girls stood there in the pouring rain while the lightning flashed and the thunder crashed.

"When are you going to realise that it wasn't my fault?" Primula asked angerily.

"Never!" Naomi shouted, "it's all your fault! Your fault! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Then she went too far by saying, "I personally wish it was you that was hit by that car instead of Marshall! Maybe then I would still be happy!"

"Naomi," Daisy and Kaede gasped in unison.

"Why you little!" Primula launched in for another punch, but this time was stopped by someone else - namely me.

"That's enough both of you!" I said angerily, "Primula, get into the truck, I'm taking you back to Max and Monty's house. It's clear that now is not the best time for you to return." Naomi showed a smirk across her face, that was until she saw me stare at her with the same angry look, "and as for you young lady! I want you to go up to your room and stay up there for the rest of the night, you can forget about dinner."

"Who made you my dad huh?" Naomi asked furiously, "and anyways, I'm not threw with that bitch!"

"Bring it on you little shrimp!"

"No, no! NO!" I snapped angerily, almost scaring the two girls with the tone of voice I was using. "Primula, get into the truck and Naomi, get up to your room. NOW!" Without being told for a third time, Primula walked off for the truck and Naomi walked off for the house, but before they were out of each other's sights, they each gave each other the middle finger.

"I'll be back in a bit Kaede," I said to my wife, "after I drop Primula off and after I calm down. Daisy, I want you to stand guard outside of Naomi's room and make sure she doesn't come downstairs for dinner!"

"Understood Matt," said Daisy.

"Be careful out there Matthew, you might have some trouble driving," Kaede advised me.

"Don't worry Kaede, I'll be careful." After making sure I had my keys in my pocket, I walked up to the road, climbed into my truck and drove off back to the twin's house.

It was a quiet drive all the way back to the house, that was until Primula broke the silence when we were just two and a half minutes away from Max and Monty's house. "she really hates me, Little Sis hates me."

"She doesn't hate you Primula," I said, "sometimes when a person is angry, they say or do things they don't mean. I'm sure Little Sis didn't mean what she said to you."

"I hope you're right," she said sadly, "I really tried hard Matthew, but..."

"I know you did, you really tried hard to settle things without using voilence, but sometimes even the best laid plans don't always go accordingly, it just happens."

"Maybe I should give up and just stay away from her forever."

"Don't give up Primula, in due time Little Sis will calm down and then she'll want to talk to you again, who knows maybe she'll apologize for what she said to you tonight. But for now, I think it might be a good idea to stay away from her until she does calm down."

"Yeah," Primula sighed again and went quiet throughout the rest of the drive to the house.

"Well here we are," I said, "Max and Monty's house again."

"Thanks again Matthew," poor Primula looked like she was going to cry again.

"You're welcome Primula, if you ever need anything, just give either Kaede or myself a call okay?" Primula nodded her head. "Primula, don't give up alright, otherwise the bond you two have formed will be broken forever."

"I won't give up," but Primula didn't sound like she was being serious.

"Alright then, you go inside and get washed up before Max, Kelsey and their parents see you. You don't want to make them worry now do you?"

"No I don't," she shook her head, "I'll see you around Matthew."

She climbed down from the truck and walked up to the house. I stayed to make sure she got inside, then I drove off back to the house, rather worried that the bond between Naomi and Primula may have very well been destoryed...forever.


	41. Come a Long Way

And my writing spree continues with this latest installment. This episode once again is all about Kaede, showing how far she's come since Rin 'dumped' her. This idea came to me shortly after I had started this Second Season of Our Kinda Life. Anyways, the rating is still the same as normal, mostly because of some swearing and some 'cute' moments too, also note that the date of this chapter continues where we left off in the last chapter, Sunday October 16th 2011 and there are moments where this chapter is in third person narration. And now without further ado, here's the 41st chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 41: Come a Long Way**_

The storm had lightened up by ten that evening and the rain wasn't coming down as hard as before. I was laying in my bed waiting for Kaede to come back from taking her bath, throughout that time I kept thinking about the fight between Primula and Naomi earlier today.

"Well that could've gone better. I told Little Sis that voilence doesn't solve everything," I thought to myself, "then again, I can understand how she feels. I just hope those two will talk it over soon and hopefully put a stop to the bitter rivalry between them," I sighed and rolled onto my right side, still waiting for Kaede to come back into the room.

It wasn't long before I could really hear the rain coming down hard once more, I could hear some thunder too.

"Ah, the storm is coming back," I thought to myself. Just then I heard some footsteps coming into the room, so I had to guess it was Kaede, "did you enjoy your bath Kaede?" I asked, but got no answer. In the next second, I felt her wrap her arms around me and giving me a hug from behind. When I turned to face her, I saw that was soaking wet, naked and she had _the_ look in her eyes.

"Please be mine," she said.

"What?"

"Please be mine, I want to make you happy."

I couldn't understand why Kaede was saying this, that was until, "oh that's right, it was on this night three years ago that Kaede came into Rin's room naked and asking him the same questions she's asking me now."

"Will you be mine?" she asked me again.

I knew the only way I was going to snap her back to normal was to answer her question, but giving her the answers she wanted before, "I'm all yours Kaede, I will always be yours. You are my one true love and my best friend too," I turned so that I was face to face with my wife, "I'm already yours," I leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

We kissed for almost a minute, that's when Kaede opened her eyes and gasped, "Matthew?"

"Hey Kaede, are you feeling okay?"

"Hmm?" She was confused, that was until she looked down and realised she wasn't wearing anything, "oh no, did I just come in here asking you to be mine?"

"Yep," I nodded.

"Oh I'm so sorry Matthew, I must've scared you," she groaned as she sat down at the front of our bed, "I don't know why I just did that. The last time I did that was..."

"Three years ago right?"

"Yes, just before Rin told me he was going to move out. I don't know what made me do that."

A thought came into my head, "tell me Kaede, were you taking a bath or were you taking a shower?"

"Shower," she answered simply.

"Hmm, I thought so. I think you taking a shower while the rain was pouring outside must've triggered that old memory, causing you to sort of reanact what happened that night in hopes that you will get the answer you were looking for...at least that's what I think, I'm not enterily sure."

I got up from the bed, grabbed my blue blanket and wrapped it around Kaede.

"I can't believe I did that again, I'm sorry Matthew," she groaned, "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay Kaede," I said kindly while rubbing her shoulders softly, "it's alright. Besides, there is a major difference between that night and tonight."

"Yeah...you said that you're all mine and you kissed me."

"Right," I smiled.

"Matthew, can you go to the bathroom and turn off the lights and the shower? I don't think I turned them off."

"Sure thing Kaede," I got up from the bed and walked over to the washroom. I returned less than thirty seconds later, "you did turn off the shower head, only the lights were on. And if you're wondering, our sisters and our guests didn't see you walking out of the bathroom, they're all fast asleep."

"Thank you Matthew," she sighed quietly.

"You're welcome Kaede honey," I leaned in and gave her a kiss on her forehead, "now what do you say we get some sleep?"

"Okay, and is it okay if I sleep without my pajamas on tonight?" she asked.

"Of course you can." So while Kaede got into bed, I walked over to the door, closed it and locked it up. Then I walked back over to the bed, climbed in next to Kaede, then after we said good night, we closed our eyes and went off to sleep.

The following next morning, Kaede and I walked into the kitchen only to find Daisy, Monty and Lance working on making breakfast, "good morning everyone," Kaede said happily, "did you sleep well Lance?"

"Yes I did thank you," he answered, "I only woke up once last night, but was because of thunder, other than that, I had no trouble sleeping."

"Good," groaned a little voice from behind us, we looked to see who the owner of the voice was. It was Naomi, along with the same sad look on her face, we also saw dark lines under her eyes.

"Morning Naomi," Daisy called, "did you have trouble sleeping last night?"

"Of course not," she groaned, "I had no trouble sleeping, I just didn't feel like sleeping at all."

"How come?" Kaede asked kindly.

Naomi didn't answer the question at all, she just stared at the table top of our kitchen table. She remained quiet, even when breakfast was brought over to the table. Truth be told, she almost didn't eat anything, "Naomi, you have to eat something," Kaede said with concern, "it's not healthy to not eat anything."

"I'll be fine," she groaned and took a bite of her breakfast. She did eat her breakfast, but I'm sorry to tell you that she only ate half of her breakfast, "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just not hungry right now."

"It's okay Naomi," Kaede said kindly, "if you want, I can put your breakfast in the fridge and keep it in there until you're ready to eat it."

"Thanks," Naomi groaned quietly.

Before our sisters and our two guests headed out, Monty and Lance gave me a hand in washing the dishes, the pots and the pans until they were all cleaned off and put away.

"Have a good day you five," Kaede said to them.

"We will," four of the five of them said, the only one who said nothing was Naomi. After excepting their lunches, the five of them headed on their way to school.

"Well I guess I better get going," I said, "but..."

"But what Matthew?"

"Well, I'm just wondering if I should go into work today or if I should stay home with you?"

"Huh?"

"Well I'm just a little worried that you might run away like you did three years ago on a Monday. I'm just concerned that's all."

Kaede showed me a small smile, "I'll be okay Matthew," she said kindly, "I won't runaway today, I'm going to stay here today and do some housework."

"Okay Kaede," I smiled, "you have a good day and I'll see you when I come home," once again I leaned forward and gave her a kiss, this time on the right side of her face.

"Have you a good day dear," she said sweetly to me.

"I will," I turned and was just about to walk away when Kaede called out to me once more, "what is it Kaede?"

"You nearly forgot your lunch," she held out my lunchbag.

"Oh thanks Kaede, my stomach would be growling all afternoon if I left this behind," I chuckled, "thanks again honey." I turned once again and walked off towards my truck, all the while Kaede was waving to me until I was out of sight.

It wasn't long before I arrived at the set of 'Tech Corner' where I found Al already working on setting up the show for the day, "hey Matthew, I've been hearing that you were teaching Kaede about handywork, what did you teach her?"

I looked over to him surprised, "how the heck did you...oh never mind, I think I know how you found out. And in answer to your question, I taught her on how to build a table complete with shelves and I taught her a few things about handling tools."

"Well that was sweet of you to do that."

"You're not the first person to say that," I said as I walked off to the back area behind the set, "you know though, Kaede was a really good student and a fast learner too."

"Speaking of her, two years ago on a Monday, didn't she run away over something?"

"Yes she did, she ran away and hid under the bridge, although it was on the 19th, she did run off on a Monday because the year before she locked herself in her bedroom and then in the afternoon she ran away."

"Oh yeah you told me that two years ago. Hey just out of curiousity, did she try running away last year?"

"No she didn't, but she did cry a bit. She did cheer up though, especially when she was spending some time with either our friends or myself."

"That's good to know," Al smiled, "hey Matthew, I've always been wondering, why didn't Rin chose Kaede? I mean, don't get me wrong here, I'm happy that you two are together, but from what you said, they had a very good friendship even from childhood."

"Don't worry, I'm not taking offence to that," I said to him, "and in answer to your question, Rin didn't chose Kaede for two reasons, one; although he did like her, he didn't have romantic feelings for her and two; he didn't her to be his personal slave."

"What?"

"Don't you remember what I told you before about when Rin lived at the house?"

Al thought about it for a few seconds before remembering, "oh that's right, Kaede used to cook, clean and do everything for him, as you put it, she was running herself 'ragged' trying to take care of him."

"Yep, that's it excatly," I nodded, "he just didn't want to see her suffer like that, so that is the main reason why he didn't chose Kaede to be his girlfriend. Does that answer your question?"

"Yep, perfectly," he nodded, "now what do you say we get to work before the show starts?"

"Agreed," and so we went to the back room to get all the props we needed for today's show.

At around two thirty that afternoon, Kaede was walking home after getting some grogeries. Dark rain clouds began to roll in, Kaede opened up her umbrella and held it over her head while she continued walking home.

On the way though, she stopped near the bridge - the very bridge where she and Asa had that talk three years ago and where she hid herself two years ago, "I can't believe it's been three years since that day."

"Neither can I," said another voice.

Kaede looked and saw who the voice belonged to, it was Asa Shigure, she was also holding onto an umbrella, "hey Asa, what are you doing out here?"

"Well there are two reasons really, one; I needed to go grogery shopping just like you and two; I came by here cause I thought perhaps you..."

"Ran away again right?"

"Ah..." Asa was hasty with her answer at first, "yeah, I was worried that you might run away. I remember just how sad you were that day, so I just thought that perhaps you might've tried to run away again."

"Well you didn't need to worry at all Asa, I'm okay."

"Are you sure? I mean, I know how much you liked Rin and how disappointed you were when he told you that he didn't have romatnic feelings for you."

"Yes Asa, I'm okay. I'm still a little bit upset about that day, but I'm also happy because as you know, I was always devoted to Rin and always doing my best to look after him. So when he dumped me, he helped set me free and because of that, I was able to find my true love...Matthew," she smiled, "and now I'm a wife and an expected mother."

"Yeah. You have come a long way since that day," Asa smiled. "Hey Kaede, I was just wondering, if you had the chance to talk to your 17 year old self, what would you say to her?"

"Well, if I got the chance to talk to my 17 year old self, I would say to her, 'the pain you are feeling right now will hurt for a while, but one day soon your smile will return and you will find your true love'."

"That's perfect," Asa smiled with a quiet giggle.

"What about you Asa? What you say to your 17 year old self?"

"Well let's see...I would tell her to talk to you Kaede before heading out with Rin and tell her to be a supportive friend as well," Asa sighed unhappily, "I wasn't a very good friend to you Kaede, I'm really sorry about ignoring you like that."

"It's okay Asa, I don't blame you for that. I just hope you can forgive me for what I did and said to you."

"Of course I can forgive you and truth be told, I already did. As Matthew often says, forgive and forget right?"

"Right," Kaede nodded.

"Well that and I would tell my 17 year old self to not be so stubborn too," she giggled.

Kaede giggled too before checking her watch, "well anyways, I better get going before Matthew starts worrying of where I am."

"Alright then, I guess I should get going to the grogery store and get home before my mom and Rin start worrying about me. I'll see you later Kaede."

"See you later Asa." And with that, the girls went on their seperate ways back to their own homes.

Speaking of yours truely, I had returned back to the house earlier than I usually would, just because I wanted to see Kaede. I looked all around the house, but I couldn't find her, "I wonder if she's by the bridge again," I thought to myself. I ran down the stairs and was just entering the hallway when I saw Kaede coming in, after she closed up her umbrella.

"Hi Matthew," she said sweetly, "you're home early."

"Well that's because I..."

"You wanted to see how I was doing right?" she asked. I nodded my head as to answer her question, "Well I'm fine Matthew, I'm almost done with the housework for today, I just went to the grogery store to get a few things..." she paused before adding, "I stopped by the bridge on my way home."

"You stopped by the bridge? Are you okay?"

"Yes Matthew I'm okay," she answered happily, "I didn't shed a single tear while I was standing there, not even when I was talking with Asa. Isn't that great Matthew?" She walked up to me, wrapping her arms around me.

"Yes it is," I said while I wrapped my arms around her.

"I think I'm starting to get over what happened three years ago. Who knows, maybe in a year or so, maybe I'll finally get over what happened."

"Yeah."

"You know, Asa said to me that I have come a long way since that day three years ago."

"Well she's right," I placed both of my hands just below her cheeks while she continued smiling at me, "you really have come a long way since that day, I'm so proud of you Kaede."

"Thank you Matthew. I wouldn't have become the person I am today without all your kind support and your encouraging words. I don't know what I would've done without you." Kaede and I just stood there in silence, all the while we continued hugging each other.

"Well my dear Kaede, you'll never have to find out, cause like all those times before, I'll always be here for you, I promise."

"And I'll always be here for you...I promise..." she stood up on her toes and kissed me on the lips. We kissed for another two to three minutes before our lips seperated, "I love you Matthew, my hero."

"And I love you too Kaede, my sweet, beautiful queen," I whispered softly into her right ear. Kaede blushed into a shade of red the moment I said that, but she never lost that smile of hers. We hugged for another few minutes, not saying a word, just standing there in silence with our smiles showing. After our hug, we brought the grogeries over to the kitchen, put them away and throughout the rest of the afternoon, I helped Kaede do some of the housework.

Just before Kaede and I got to work, Daisy gave us a call, "Monty and I are going to take Naomi to the hospital to see Marshall," she told us, "then we're going to treat her out to dinner, so we'll probably make it home sometime between seven thirty and eight."

"Okay Daisy, thanks for letting us know," I said.

After she hung up, I told Kaede of what Daisy told me, "after they leave the hospital, both Monty and Daisy are going to treat Naomi out to dinner, so it looks like it'll just be you and me tonight Kaede. Would it be okay if I cook dinner for you tonight?"

"Of course you can Matthew."

So once we had finished the house chores, I went into the kitchen to cook dinner for Kaede, tonight's meal was a spagetti with home-made meat sauce and with a few meatballs too. Kaede just watched from the kitchen table and once again, not once did she ever lose that smile. I was happy just to see her happy.

When I had finished cooking, we went into the living room to watch some of our favourite shows on the Anime Network.

"Open up Matthew," Kaede was holding out her chop sticks with some spagetti on it.

I opened up my mouth and excepted the spagetti that was on the end of her chop sticks, "okay Kaede, now it's your turn, open up for me." Kaede giggled that cute little giggle. She opened her mouth and excepted the piece of spagetti that was on the end of my chop sticks.

"Delicous. Thank you Matthew."

"You're welcome," using my right thumb, I wiped a bit of sauce from the lower half of her lips.

Kaede did the same thing, then she leaned forward to kiss me on the lips. We kissed for two and a half minutes. After our kiss, we just stared into each other's eyes while not saying a single word.

That was until I broke the silence, "ah...maybe we should get back to eating our meals before they get cold."

"Okay," and so, we went back to eating our meals.

After we were done eating, Kaede and I worked together to wash all the dishes, the pots and the pans, then we went back into the living room to relax a bit. Kaede rested her head on my lap, she just stared up at me a bit before she closed her eyes for a little nap.

"Aww," I said quietly.

I didn't want to distrub her from her nap, so I turned down the volume on the TV and made sure she was comfortable. Every so often I would, very carefully, run my fingers threw my wife's soft orange hair, she blushed into a light shade of pink. Then very softly, I brushed some strands of hair away from her forehead, I leaned in and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

"How cute," I heard a young female voice say from the doorway. I looked and saw it was Daisy, and she wasn't alone as Monty and Naomi were standing behind her, "sorry, I hope we're not interupting anything."

"No not at all," I whispered quietly, "Kaede and I were just relaxing, watching some TV and enjoying each other's company."

"That's right," we all looked down to see that Kaede was awake.

"Sorry Kaede, we didn't mean to wake you up," said Daisy.

"It's okay Daisy," she said while _still_ smiling. "Did you three have a good time out tonight?"

"We did, we went to one of our favourite resturants and we went for a little walk around the plaza before we came home. Overall, we did have a good time out tonight, right Naomi?"

"I guess," she muttered, "now if it's okay with you all, I'm going to bed."

"Sure thing Naomi," Daisy turned her attention back to us, "well anyways, we'll be upstairs doing our homework, just in case you need us."

"Besides," Monty said with a sly smile, "we don't want to distrub your alone time."

Kaede and I blushed into a light shade of red, "Monty!" exclaimed Daisy, "I can't believe you just said that!"

"Oh come on Daisy," he chuckled, "I just had to say what anyone of us would've said."

"Oh you!" Daisy giggled and followed her boyfriend out of the living room. Kaede and I just chuckled quietly as we listened to them walk up the stairwell.

"I guess we should get upstairs and get changed into our pajamas," I said.

"Not yet," she said looking up to me with an adorable look on her face.

Just seeing that look on her face, I knew just what Kaede was going to say, "or we can just stay here like this for a while."

"Sounds good to me," she moved up a bit while I leaned downwards until our lips connected as we kissed. We kissed for another two minutes before our lips seperated, our cheeks were a light shade of pink.

I saw a few tears form in Kaede's eyes, "are you okay Kaede my love?" I asked.

"Yes Matthew, I'm okay," she nodded, "these are just my happy tears, I'm so happy to have you by my side."

"Well I'm happy to be by your side."

Kaede sighed happily before saying, "I really have come a long way over the last three years, don't you think so Matthew."

"Yes Kaede, I do think so. You have come a long way and like I said before, I'm proud of you honey." I leaned in once more and gave Kaede a kiss on her forehead.

"Oh Matthew," she smiled and kissed me back on the right side of my face before she rested her head back on my lap and we continued to relax on that couch with the volume down low on the TV and with my fingers running threw Kaede's soft orange hair.


	42. Lisa Brugger

It's been a while since Lisa has had a moment in the spotlight, so this chapter is about Lisa Brugger. I don't have a lot to say right now except that this chapter's rating is the same as usual and the chapter's date starts on Tuesday October 18th 2011. And now here's the 42nd chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 42: Lisa Brugger**_

"Good morning everyone," Kaede said as we walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning Kaede and you too Matt," Daisy said cheerfully, "did you two have a good night sleep last night?" Both Kaede and I nodded our heads, "good. Oh and we have a guest, take a wild guess who that would be."

"Oh no don't tell me it's..."

I didn't finish, mostly because I felt someone slap me hard on the back, which made me fall forwards to the floor. There's only one person I know who would slap me that hard on the back, "hey Lisa," I groaned, "What brings you over here?"

"What else? I came over here to see how you guys are doing, I haven't heard a single word from you guys in quite a while, what's going on huh? How's Naomi doing? Have you been getting into fights again?" She looked over to Kaede, "and have you felt any kicks yet? Well?"

"To answer your first question," I said as I got back to my feet, "Little Sis got into another fight with Primula and now she's really depressed, and yes I've gotten into a couple of fights, both with Charlie Banks..." I paused and looked over to Kaede.

"And no I haven't felt any kicking yet," Kaede answered, "I probably won't feel any kicking until I'm five months pregnant."

"I thought you were five pregnant."

"Nope, just four so far. I got pregnant just before Mayumi and Itsuki's wedding."

"Oh that's right, you announced it right at their wedding." Lisa turned her attention to me, she walked up to me and slapped me on the back, two hard times, "and what the heck is the matter with you Matthew, you made a promise to Kaede that you wouldn't fight and you get into two fights?"

"I know and I did say sorry to Kaede."

"You're lucky your wife is so forgiving, cause I would punish if you were my husband if you broke your promise to me."

"With the way you're acting to my big brother, it already looks like you're trying to punish him. You have to understand though that he was trying to protect us from Charlie, the stupid baka, as I'm going to kindly put it, barged into the enterance way of our school and threatened us."

"It's true..." Naomi said quietly as she walked into the room. She had the dark lines under her eyes, so we had to guess she didn't get much sleep last night.

"Morning Naomi," said Lisa, "having trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah," she muttered, "don't know why though...anyways, you were saying Daisy..."

"Yeah well I was just telling Lisa about the fights Matt had with Charlie Banks."

"He nearly lost his first fight..." Naomi said quietly, but was a little louder than she was before, "and Charlie nearly got to him in the second fight..."

"What?" Lisa looked over to me.

"Charlie was using mind games aganist me and he nearly got me too, but it didn't work, mostly because of the support of my friends, my family and my lovely wife too," as I was saying this, I was looking over to Kaede and giving her a wink of my right eye. She blushed into a light shade of red, "I was able to beat Charlie and now he's back in jail."

"Well I hope you did something special for Kaede after your two fights."

"He did," said Kaede as she walked up to me and wrapped her arms around me, giving me a hug, "He promised me he would be more careful, then we hugged and kissed."

Lisa nodded happily, "Glad to hear that. Of course, if he does break that promise to you again," she paused before adding with a chuckle, "You could always punch him in the stomach as a way to punish them."

"No," Kaede groaned, "I would never do that."

"It's okay Kaede, she's only kidding," I said kindly as to calm her down.

"Of course I'm kidding," Lisa chuckled as she helped Daisy bring the dishes to the table, "I know you well and I know you would never do that to Matthew. Now are you two going to join us or not? Your breakfast is getting cold."

"Yeah we're coming," I said as we walked over to the table, "Same old Lisa," I thought to myself.

After breakfast, we went over to the enterance hallway to get our shoes and jackets on, "hey Lisa, can I ask you something?" Daisy asked.

"Sure Daisy, ask away."

"Well, don't take this as an offence, but everytime I see you, you're wearing either shorts or jeans, never a skirt. Do you not like skirts or something?"

"No I like skirts, but I just prefer wearing jeans or shorts, always have ever since I was a little girl."

"Okay I was just wondering, cause you're about the only girl I know who always wears jeans or shorts and never skirts, I just wanted to know."

"Well don't worry Daisy, I'm not offended by what you said. Anyways, I better be off, my boss wanted to have a little chat with me before work began, so I'll see you guys later," once she had her shoes on, she walked down the pathway, got into her car and drove away.

"Hey Naomi come on!" Daisy called, "we don't want to be late for school!"

"I'm coming," she muttered quietly. "I'll see you after school Big Bro."

"Alright Little Sis, I'll see you after school..." I paused and looked down to her feet, "I think you forgot something."

"What?"

"Your shoes."

Naomi stopped and looked to her feet, "oh," she said meekily, "sorry." She turned around and got her shoes on, "come on Daisy, come on Monty," she sighed, "time for another day at school."

Daisy turned around to speak with us, "don't worry, we'll keep an eye on her. See you in a bit you two."

Both Daisy and Monty ran to catch up with Naomi, who quite surprising, was already at the gate. When they had left, I grabbed my lunch, kissed Kaede on the lips, then walked out to the truck and drove off for work.

I arrived at the set, only to find that no one was there, "where is everyone? I'm not early today."

"Ah Matthew, there you are," said Mr. Quinten, coming out to speak to me, "listen, today we're not going to be filming here on the set, we're doing another 'Tech Corner on Location' Episode."

"Oh okay, but where is it we're going excatly?"

"Take a wild guess buddy!" shouted a voice from behind me. Before I got the chance to see who it was, I got slapped on the back, which knocked me down to the ground, "you're going to be filming at my workplace!"

I looked back and saw that it was Lisa, "I should've guessed," I groaned as I got back to my feet, "so I guess that's the reason your boss wanted to see you this morning, am I right?"

"That's right Matthew, my boss said that you and Al are going to be doing an 'on location' episode in my workplace, since you guys are talking about computers this week. Oh and the best news, I get to be your guide for the day. This is going to be alot of fun," she giggled, turned and ran off back to her workplace.

"Well that anwsers my question," I said quietly, "so is everything set up over there or is there anything I can do?"

"Actually yes there is, you can take this last box of wires over to the computer lab," said Mr. Quinten, "well anyways, I got to get back to my office, I got some more paperwork to take of, you have a good time and I'll see you boys after the show is done."

"Alright sir, see you in a bit," I called to him as he walked away. I picked up the box and walked over to the computer lab.

The computer lab building is the second largest building on the property with probably over one hundred different computers. All of which were in console centres, kinda like any subway's main computer centre where they monitor the trains.

"Hey Al," I called to him, "you know you guys could've waited until I showed up before moving all the equipment over here."

"Sorry Matthew, but Mr. Quinten and Lisa's boss, Mr. Kirishima, wanted everything to be set up immediately."

"Mr. Kirishima is a nice man, but he's a little impatient too," Lisa whispered to us, "still, he's a great boss to have. Now, I'll give you guys a little tour of the place before you're on the air."

"Thanks Lisa, it'll help us greatly," said Al.

Lisa took us all around the computer labs, it was a lot bigger than ever imagined. Once the tour was done, we returned to the main lab where all the cameras were set up. Since Sakura was away with Michael and Rose, we got a temporary producer working with us, she's still learning and does often make mistakes, but she was improving.

"Okay guys, we're on the air in five...four...three...two...one...We're on the air!"

The lights turned on and all cameras pointed towards us, "hello everyone, I'm your host Matthew Gagnon and you all know my assistant Al. We're talking to you directly from the computer labs in the same compound as our studios."

"As you know," Al spoke up, "this week we're talking about computers and today we're going to show you how these computers in this computer lab are used."

"And to help us understand the operations that go on around here," I continued, "we have a special guest star with us today. Many of you may know her for she's an old friend of mine and she likes to slap me on the back. Anyways, here's Lisa Brugger!"

"Thank you Matthew," Lisa smiled and slapped me on the back again, knocking me down to the ground again.

"As long as we're on the air, can you please stop slapping me hard?"

"I'll try, but I'm not making any promises," she giggled and looked over back to the camera, "hello everyone, as Matthew just said, I am Lisa Brugger and I will be giving you a personal tour of the computer lads and show some of the work that goes on 'behind the scenes' sort to speak."

"That's correct," I said, getting back to my feet again, "and thanks for saying what I was going to say."

"Sorry Matthew, but I thought I should say it," she giggled, "now follow me."

The first stop on our little tour of the computer labs was the workshops at the back of the labs, "without these guys, our computers would break down and never start again," said Lisa.

"That's correct Lisa," said one of the I.T. crew members, "our work is very important to a place like the computer labs. Allow us to demostrate with this computer we recently took out of the computer labs."

The second I.T. crew member pushed the plug of the computer into the wall socket and connected the other end to the computer.

The first crew member pushed the power button...within seconds, there was a loud screeching sound, then a pause...followed by the loud screeching sound. Finally the second I.T. crew member shut the computer off.

"Obviously the hard drive has crashed and needs replacing."

"While we got it in here," said the first I.T. crew member, "we might as well replace the CD/DVD Rom drive. We've been told that it doesn't work properly. We have the new CD/DVD Rom drive and we'll install that after we have replaced the Hard Drive."

After that little lesson, we followed Lisa to the main generator room, "this is used whenever the power is knocked out. When the lights go out, this thing kicks into action and provides power for the entire lab. I bet everyone wishes they had one of these in their homes."

"I know I do," I said as a joke and recieved a few quiet chuckles, the cameramen were trying hard not to laugh.

Our next stop was at the supply room, "this is an important room in this building, this is where all the supplies are kept...of course," she chuckled, "that's why they call this place the supply room." Of course this got a few of us laughing.

Afterwords, Lisa showed off a little bit of what she does in the computer labs.

At around noon, we headed out to Mike's Diner to have something to eat, "I don't know why," Lisa was saying, "but whenever I come here, it just brings back a lot of wonderful memories from the Good old days when we were kids."

"Yeah I know that feeling...hey Lisa, whatever to that idea of yours?"

"What idea?"

"You know, your idea of opening up the largest toy store ever? To make it similar to the big toy store we all went to at the Richmond Hill mall."

"Oh right that idea. Well, the idea isn't gone Matthew, it's just...okay I forgot about it," she said meekly, "but still it's an interesting idea, I mean opening a giant sized toy store."

"How big was the original toy store you guys went to?" Al asked.

"Well let's see...I would say it's the size of your 'Tech Corner' set X3."

Al's eyes popped wide open in surprise. "No I don't think it was that big," I spoke up, "if I remember correctly, it was the size of our set X6."

"Hmm, yeah you're probably right...all I do know is that it was a really big store. It wasn't just toys they sold there, they had videos, cassettes and books too...as I recall Matthew, that's where you got most of your Thomas Book collection."

"Well that and the...the...oh what was the name of the other store?"

"I think it was 'My Gifted Child'. Whatever happened to that store anyways?"

"Oh it stayed in the mall until 2009 when they moved out. It was interesting just going into that store, very nostalgic."

"Why's that?" Al asked.

"Well that store usually sold books, VHS tapes, cassettes and toys that are impossible to find nowadays. In fact, some of the stuff in my little collection actually came from that store."

"Little? Matthew, you've got one of the biggest Thomas collections I've ever seen, you probably have more items than a museum."

"No, I don't have that much Lisa," I said in protest, "Although it is a little bit bigger than the last time you saw it," I muttered quietly.

"Right...well anyways, I might have forgotten about that dream of mine for a while, but I'm not enterily sure if I will make it come true."

"Well it's enterily up to you Lisa," said Al, "although I know a lot of kids would like that alot."

"Well I'll think about it, maybe in a few years I'll retire from working in a computer lab and open up that nostalgic toy store," she said just as our food came to the table.

After lunch, we returned to Lisa's workplace and was given some demostrations by Lisa and some of her co-workers. Afterwords, I headed off to the school to pick up Naomi.

After I picked her up, we headed off to the hospital, she hardly said a single word. She was also quiet when we were in the hospital room.

"Hey Little Sis, aren't you going to tell Marshall about your day at school?" I asked her kindly, "I'm sure he'd be interested into hearing how your day was."

"I don't feel like talking," she groaned, "I didn't have an exciting day."

I was about to say something else when we heard a little knock at the door. We looked to see Lisa standing there, with some flowers in her hands, "hey Naomi and you too Matthew, I just brought these flowers for Marshall, how is he?"

Naomi didn't answer, she just looked over to him.

"Well he looks a little better now than he did when he came in here. Last time I saw him, he was covered in lots of bruises, now look at him, he does look better now."

"Maybe so," Naomi sobbed as she got from her chair, "but he's out cold and I don't know if he'll ever wake up!" With tears in her eyes, she ran past Lisa and out of the room.

"I didn't mean to upset her. I was just trying to help cheer her up..."

"I know you were only trying to help Lisa."

"Should we go after her?"

"No not yet, for now I think she needs some time alone to calm herself down." I sighed and looked back over to Marshall, "she's had it pretty rough ever since that accident, she hardly speaks to anyone now and when Primula tried to patch things up with her, they got into a huge fight. I'm now really concerned about both of them...I wonder if they will ever patch things up."

"They will, just give them some time to think about what they've been saying and doing and before you know they'll become good friends again," Lisa chuckled at that moment, "You know for a moment, I almost sounded like you."

"Well I guess that's because you've been hanging around me a lot."

"Yeah there's a good possibility," she chuckled.

"You are right though Lisa, things between them will probably get better in due time."

"Now there's the Matthew Gagnon I know," Lisa smiled. "Now I don't know about you, but I'm going off to find Naomi and see if I can't cheer her up." She turned and walked towards the door, but stopped just before she left the room, "you know, I too at one time was depressed, but then you cheered me up in your own way. I wouldn't be who I am today had it been for you Matthew...thank you." With that said, she walked away.

"You're welcome Lisa," I said quietly as I went back to my seat.

They returned quite soon, the tears in Naomi's eyes were gone, but she still looked depressed. This time though, she did walk up to Marshall's bed and started telling him all about her day and apologized for running away earlier.

We stayed there for almost another hour before we headed back to the house. "Would you like to stay for dinner Lisa?" I asked as we walked up the pathway to the house.

"Oh I would like to, but I got other plans for the evening, so I'm going to have to say 'no'."

"Alright...and Lisa, I've been meaning to ask you, what did you say to Little Sis after you found her?"

"Sorry Matthew, but that's for me to know and for you to find out," she said with her usual giggle and sticking her tounge out at me.

"Well thanks anyways for your help, and I promise that I'll keep you posted on what's going on."

"Good, cause you know that I always like to help my friends whenever I can," she turned and walked towards the gate, but she stopped before it, "being serious here Matthew, some of the things I was telling Naomi, were the same things I told you earlier. Look after her okay? She needs you guys now more than ever."

"Right, thanks Lisa."

"My pleasure buddy. Oh shoot, you know what, I just forgot something..." she walked back up to me and slapped me hard on the back, knocking me down to my knees for the fourth time that day, "can't say good bye without giving you a good night slap now can I? Anyways, toodles!" And still laughing, she ran away.

I chuckled quietly as I got back to my feet, "yeah she can't resist doing that."

I turned around, half expecting to see a sly smile on Naomi's face, but I didn't see that smile - instead she had the same sad look across the face. "So I heard that you and Lisa had a little talk, what did you talk about?"

"Stuff," she muttered, "Later," and she walked back into the house. I followed along behind her, but by the time I got inside the house, she was already half way up the stairs.

"I keep forgetting how fast that girl can walk," I thought to myself.

"Hi Matthew," I heard Kaede's sweet voice as she came up to see me, "how was your day at work?"

"It was okay, I actually learned some things I never knew before about computers. And just for the record, Lisa slapped me hard on the back four times today."

"It's just her way, she can't help herself."

"Yeah that's true. What about you huh? How was your day?"

"It was okay, I got alot of the housework today and I got a phone call from my dad."

"Oh really? What did your dad have to say?"

"Well first he says 'hello' to you, Rimu, Naomi, Daisy and to me of course," she giggled, "he also says he's been doing quite well lately, he's also been working hard too."

"Did you tell him not to work too hard?" I asked with a small chuckle.

"Oh yes, I told him that," she giggled, "he had a good laugh about that too. Oh and he said that he's coming home tomorrow. He'll be staying with us for a week."

"Really? Well that's great, ah...did you tell your dad about Primula and Little Sis?"

"Actually, I told him that I would tell him everything when he got here, as I put it, 'it's a long story'. Anyways, I'm going to get started on dinner, can you give a hand with making it Matthew?"

"You don't even need to ask Kaede, you know my answer is yes."

"Okay," she smiled and once I had taken my shoes off, I followed Kaede into the kitchen to get started on making dinner.


	43. The Trouble with Primula & Naomi

And my writing spree continues. For this chapter, I wanted to show not only the depressed state of Naomi, but to show Primula's depressed state too. Also included in this chapter is Mr. Fuyou's grand return as he takes a week off from work. Before we begin, this chapter's date is Wednesday October 19th 2011, the rating is still the same for there will be some swearing included and there will be some portions of this chapter which goes into third person. Anyhow, that's enough chatter from me, here's the 43rd chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 43: The Trouble with Primula & Naomi**_

After another visit to the hospital to see Marshall, Naomi and I were on our way back to the house. She did a lot of talking to Marshall, but now on the way back home, she was as quiet as a mouse. I tried to start a conversation with her, "did you hear that Kaede's father is coming back for a weekly visit?"

"I heard," she muttered quietly, "Kaede told me this morning. Big Bro..."

"Yeah?"

"I don't feel like talking right now, so can you please be quiet?"

"Ah..." well that was unexpecting, "Sure Little Sis, I won't say another word." Being true to my word, I kept quiet all the way back to the house.

Of course, by the time we arrived back at the house, it was starting to rain. I ran from the truck to the house, but Naomi didn't bother, she walked slowly up the pathway, "you know at the pace you're going, you're going to get completely soaked and then you'll catch a cold."

"I don't care," she muttered.

She finally reached the doorway, by now she was soaked from head to toe. As soon as she walked in, she kicked off her shoes and walked off towards the stairwell, "hey Little Sis where are you going? Aren't you going to say hello to..."

"Not right now, I just want to be alone...and I mean it this time. If Daisy is waiting in my room, I'm going to kick her out," before I could even say another word, Naomi walked up the stairwell towards her room.

I sighed and shook my head before walking into the living room.

"Is that you Matthew?" I heard Kaede call out to me.

"Yes it's me," I answered back as I walked into the living room. There was Kaede sitting on the couch and sitting next to her was her father, "Hello Mr. Fuyou, it's good to see you again, how's work?"

"It's okay, keeps me busy everyday."

"Hope you're not working too hard," I said with a chuckle as I sat down on the couch.

"Don't worry I'm not working too hard," he chuckled. Kaede giggled quietly when I said that. Mr. Fuyou's face showed a serious look a moment later, "I was talking to Kaede and she was saying that Primula and Naomi aren't getting along right now."

"Well it's true, ever since the accident that's put Marshall, Little Sis' boyfriend, in the hospital, Little Sis believes that Primula is to blame for what happened."

"It gotten so bad that we had to seperate them," Kaede added, "Rimu went to live at Max and Monty's house while Naomi stays here with us. It hasn't been easy on either of them..."

"Haven't they tried to patch things up?" Mr. Fuyou asked.

"Rimu tried, but Naomi didn't want to. She still blamed Rimu for what happened and the two of them got into a huge fight outside just as a thunderstorm came in."

"Good gracious," gasped Mr. Fuyou.

"Luckily though we were able to seperate them before they sent each other to the hospital," I said, "Primula's now back at Max and Monty's place and as for Little Sis, well...she hasn't said very much since that day."

"I see, well that explains a great deal then," he turned his attention to Kaede, "and what about you huh? Have you felt any kicking yet?"

"No not yet, it'll probably another month or so before I feel any kicking," she said looking down to her stomach, "when I do feel them kicking, I'll let you know daddy."

"Alright," he smiled, "now if it's okay with you two, I would like to make dinner for all of you."

"Of course it's okay with us," Kaede and I said in unison.

Mr. Fuyou smiled, "I see you two still think alike," with that said, he walked out of the living room and walked towards the kitchen.

Later that evening, at around twelve thirty in the evening, Kaede and I were sleeping...that was until we heard my cellphone ring, "wha...is that...my phone ringing?" I asked sleepily.

"I think it is," Kaede yawned, "but who would want to call us in the middle of the night?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out. You stay in bed, I'll get it."

I got up out of the bed and walked over to the dresser where Kaede and I usually keep our cellphones, "hello?" I yawned, "who is this?"

"It's Max," came the answer on the other end of the phone.

"Max?" I gasped, "well...why are you calling in the middle of the...is something wrong with Primula?"

"No, she's alright...well sort of...listen I just need to talk to you okay? Can you meet me by the park please?" he asked in despression, "please Matthew."

"Alright Max, I'll meet you there in a few minutes." I hung up the phone and walked over to the dresser to get a pair of jeans.

"Is everything okay with Rimu?" Kaede asked.

"I'm not enterily sure," I answered while I got changed into the jeans, "Max didn't excatly give me a proper answer. I'm going to find out once I get to the park. I'll be back in a bit, okay honey?"

"Okay," she nodded.

Once changed, I headed off downstairs to get my shoes on, then I walked off to the park.

Max was sitting on one of the swings by the time I arrived, "hey Max, is everything okay? I mean you sounded really desperate to talk to me earlier."

"It's Primula...she's about lost her mind this time around."

"Why? What's going on?"

"Well earlier tonight, I was trying to sleep and..."

Max had had a tiring day with over three tests to do at school, doing tonnes of school and homework and also helping with the chores in the house had wiped him out. He was having a good dream, that was until he felt someone wrap their arms around him and hugging him.

"Hmm? Primula, is that you?" He got no answer, "Primula? Is that..." He turned to look and saw Primula with her arms wrapped around him. "Is something wrong Primula?"

"No...nothing is wrong...I just want to ask you for one request."

"And what would that be Primula? Is it a warm gentle hug?"

"Not excatly."

"Okay...ah, you want to kiss up a storm?"

"Kind of."

"Primula, what is that you want?"

"I want you to have sex with me," she said. Max's eyes popped wide open in surprise. "I want you to touch me and do whatever you want with me...I want you Max."

The tone in Primula's voice started to scare Max, but what really scared him was _that_ look in her eyes. The look that says 'the lights are on, but nobody is home'.

"Primula, what's gotten into you?" Max asked, getting out of the bed.

"Touch me," said Primula, climbing out of the bed, "do what you want."

"Damn!" Max groaned quietly to himself, "I think that fight with Naomi affected Primula a lot more than what she said before." He backed up, stepping away from Primula, but she kept walking towards him.

"Max, you're acting strange..."

"Oh she's got to be kidding me," he thought to himself, "she says I'm the one who's acting strangely when it's her who's out of her fucking mind."

Max kept backing up, that was until he had been backed up to the door.

"Now Max, let's do it..." Primula said, still with that look in her eyes. She grabbed his shirt and slipped her hands underneath.

"Primula stop it! For crying out loud, stop it!" Primula did stop, but she wasn't looking at Max's face...she was looking down. Max knew what Primula wanted to do, "Primula, don't you even try..." Primula was going to, she slipped her hands down towards his pants, "Don't! Primula!" Still she wouldn't respond.

"I said stop it!" Max raised his right hand and slapped Primula across the face on the left side. She fell to the ground, groaning in pain. Max calmed down and gasped at what he just did, "oh my gosh Primula, are you okay?"

"Max...how could you..."

"I'm sorry, I just had to snap you back to reality. I'm sorry."

"Max?" They heard Max's mother call, "is everything okay?"

Max got to his feet and walked out of his room and told his mother of what happened, "you can't blame her though, I think that fight with Naomi and being away from her for so long has driven to this point."

"Possibly," his mother agreed.

"Listen can you please watch over her, I need some fresh air..." before his mother could say a word, Max walked away for the front door.

"...I had to get away, just to give Primula some space and to help calm me down, and the rest you already know," Max concluded.

I sighed heavily after I heard that, "so it's not just Little Sis who's gotten worse since that fight," I said, "is this the first time she's done something like this?"

"Yeah pretty much. I mean after the fight, she came into the house and said 'Oh well, better luck next time'."

"Did she really say that?"

"Yeah, she did. Except for one other time, she was always positive...well until now. I'm sure Primula won't be happy with me when I go back home...you know what, I think I'll just crash on the couch when I get home."

"Well it's up to you Max, but at least try to talk to Primula, who knows maybe she'll forgive you."

"Yeah maybe, guess I'll find out once I get back to the house," he said as he climbed down from the swing, "I'll let you of how it went tomorrow...although I have my doubts. Good night Matthew," and with that, he walked away back to the house.

Everyone else was still asleep when I got home, well all except for Kaede who was waiting for me, "Primula is okay, she's not hurt...well except on the left side of her face."

"What?"

"Ah...Max slapped her after she asked to...well, you know...and she had that look in her eyes, I'm sure you know which look I'm talking about."

"The lights are on, but nobody is home," Kaede muttered, "well what excatly happened?"

"Well..." so while I was getting changed, I told Kaede everything that Max had told me, "the left side of Primula's face is going to be sore in the morning and as for Max, he's now worried that Primula may never want to speak to him ever again. I guess that fight with Little Sis really got to Primula too."

"Yeah," Kaede nodded unhappily, "poor Rimu. When we get up in the morning, I'm going to call her and see how she's doing."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," I yawned, "now let's try to get some sleep...and to make sure of that, I'm turning my cellphone off." True to my word, I turned off my cellphone, placed it next to Kaede's cellphone, climbed into bed next to Kaede, then we both went to sleep.

Mr. Fuyou got up at around five thirty, so he decided to make breakfast. Which is why by the time Kaede and I got downstairs, we found food waiting for us on the table, "I hope you two don't mind, but I decided to make breakfast for everyone."

"We don't mind at all," Kaede smiled, "thank you so much daddy."

"You're welcome sweetie," he smiled, then he added, "I thought you usually get up at around four thirty. What time did you two go to bed last night?"

"Well we went to sleep at around nine thirty, but sometime after Midnight, Matthew got a call."

"And who was the caller?" a young voice asked from behind me. We all turned around and saw Naomi standing in the doorway, wearing her uniform, but she didn't have her pony tails on either side of her head.

"Ah...it was Max, he wanted to talk."

"About what?"

"He just wanted to talk," I wasn't lying, it was the truth, I just didn't mention that he wanted to talk about Primula.

"Naomi, why aren't you wearing your head bands?" Kaede asked sweetly.

"I didn't feel like wearing them," she answered and walked over to the kitchen table. "Max was talking about her again wasn't he?" she asked just as she sat down.

"Yes Max was talking about Primula," I answered, "he said that she's also despressed, just like you. Little Sis," I walked up to her and got down on my knees so that I was face to face with her, "why won't you at least talk to her?"

"You know why," she answered angerily, "it's her own damn fault that Marshall is out cold in the hospital."

"Hey watch the swearing Little Sis."

"I don't fucking care," she snapped back, "I'm not going to talk to the person responsible for all of this. Now can we please change the fucking subject already?"

"Ah...yeah sure, whatever you say Little Sis."

Throughout breakfast, very little was said between the six of us. Not much was said either after we had finished eating our breakfast and our sisters and Monty left for school. Naomi didn't apologize for yelling, she remained stoney faced, even as she left for school.

Shortly after they left, I got the phone call from Max, "so how did it go last night?" I asked, "did she forgive you?"

"Nope, she didn't. In fact now she says she hates me. I gave her some space, I slept on the couch."

"You know Rimu doesn't mean what she says," Kaede said to Max (just for the record, I have the volume on loud so that Kaede and I could hear everything), "when a person is depressed, they don't usually mean what they say."

"I know that," Max replied back, "I know Primula would normally forgive me. I just think for now I better give her some space."

"Sounds like a good idea," I said, "anyways, you guys have a good day and call us if anything else comes up."

"Right," and with that, Max hung up.

"Well I guess I better be off for work, if anything comes up with either one of those girls, let me know okay?"

"Okay," Kaede nodded. She gave me my lunch, and a hug, then she watched as I walked down the pathway towards the truck.

After work, I went to pick up Naomi, but she was nowhere to be seen, Daisy explained to me why, "she said that she wanted to go with Lisa tonight," she said, "she said you can go home...and she also said this...'Get off my Back'. I guess it's because you were talking about Rimu earlier."

"Yeah I guess," I sighed, "things haven't excatly been the same since Marshall's accident have they?"

"No they haven't, it's affected both girls...and now I even heard that Primula no longer wants to stay at Max's house."

"Come again? Do you mind repeating that to me one more time?" I asked as kindly as I could, "why doesn't she want to stay at Max's house anymore? It can't be just because of that slap."

"Oh no it's not that, Rimu has forgiven Max for that and actually thanked for making her snap back to her senses."

"Okay...so why is she moving out?"

"For some space, Rimu believes that some time away from Max could save their relationship, plus she wanted to take some stress away."

"Oh okay I get it now, but where will she go?"

"You know I have no idea...but you can ask her now, she's coming over here right now," she said while looking in a different direction. I looked too and sure enough, I could see Primula walking over towards us.

"Hey Primula, Daisy was just telling me that you're going to be moving out of Max's house."

"Well it's true."

"But where will you go Primula? I don't think Little Sis is ready to let you back in just yet."

"I know that, I'm actually going to be staying at Rin and Asa's place. I already phoned them this morning and they said that I can stay there for as long as I need to."

"And what about Max huh? Did you inform of this?"

"Yes I did, I told him on the way to school. He was a little upset when I told him, but he said if it helps our relationship, then that's fine with him. He even said that he would help me move into Asa and Rin's place. Speaking of which, I better get going, Max is all set go back to the house...I'll see you later and let Kaede know of where I'm going to be, I forgot to mention that to her earlier this morning."

"I will, I'll let her know as soon as I get home."

"Thanks, see you later." She turned and walked over to where Max was waiting.

Being true to my word, once we got home, I told Kaede of what Primula said to me. I was just about to tell her of why I wasn't with Naomi, when both she and Lisa came walking into the kitchen.

"Hey Little Sis, you're back early, what's going on?" I asked.

"Well there are two reasons why I came back here. First of all, I just want to say I'm sorry for snapping earlier this morning...and for the hurtful words I told Daisy to tell you."

"Apology accepted."

"Good, next...I came back here to get some things. I'm moving out."

"What?" Kaede gasped, "but why?"

"Let's face it, I haven't been happy since..._she_ left the house. There are too memories reminding me of the times we had before our fight...I think it might be best for me if I move out and stay with Lance and the Nakata family."

"You're really serious about this."

"Yeah Kaede, I'm serious," she said with a serious look on her face, "but it's not like I'm moving out permanently, I'll move in back in...if the feud between her and me ever stops."

There was a short moment of silence in the room, that was until Naomi broke the silence, "are you guys going to be okay with this?"

"No not really, we'll miss you like crazy Naomi."

"Well I'll miss you guys too, but hey I'll come by for a visit anytime...as long as she's not here," she muttered quietly, "anyways, I'll let you guys get back to your conversation, I'm going up to my room to get started on packing. Lisa, do you mind giving me a hand?"

"Sure Naomi, I'll give you a hand," said Lisa and followed Naomi up the stairs.

Naomi was all set to go within thirty minutes, but she didn't move out...just yet, "would it be okay if I stay for dinner?" she asked us.

"Of course it would be okay," Kaede answered, "you're more than welcome to stay for dinner."

"Thanks Kaede."

The meal tonight was a noodle dinner with homemade sauce, which Kaede made earlier today. It was quite delicous and we all made sure to tell Kaede that after we were done eating. Afterwords, Naomi helped Kaede and I wash the dishes while Daisy helped Lisa load all of Naomi's suitcases into her car.

All too soon, it was time for Naomi to go, "take care of yourself Naomi," Kaede said to her, "don't you go getting yourself into trouble."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful Kaede." She walked up to Kaede and gave her a hug, then she gave Daisy a hug and I was last, "I love you guys, I'm really going to miss you."

"We're going to miss you too Little Sis," I said, "if you ever want to talk to us or want a ride to the hospital to see Marshall, just give us a call."

"Thanks Big Bro and again I'm sorry for what this morning and what I told Daisy to tell you."

"It's okay...Sis."

After our hug, Naomi turned around and walked over to Lisa's car. Once she was sitting in the back seat, Lisa started the motor and drove away, but before they were out of sight, Naomi shouted out: "good-bye!"

"Bye Naomi, take care!" we called all to her until Lisa's car was out of sight. It was emotional just seeing her go, Kaede cried her eyes out, and she wasn't alone, both Daisy and I were crying too...we missed Naomi already.


	44. Damon, Koyuki & Katie

As noticed in this second Season of Our Kinda Life, most of the chapters have been about characters that don't get alot of moments in the spotlight. I'm saying this because in this episode, Damon, Koyuki and young Katie return and their stories are going to be told, including the full story of Koyuki's past and for the first time ever, Koyuki's original last name will finally be revealed. This chapter is rated M for swearing and for certain moments included, the date of this chapter starts in the early morning hours of Friday October 21st 2011 and now here is the 44th chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 44: Damon, Koyuki and Katie**_

At around one thirty in the morning on October 21st 2011, I was walking downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Just as I reached the kitchen, I saw that the lights were on. I walked in and saw Daisy getting a drink from the fridge.

"Hey Matt, what are you doing up this late?"

"I just came down here to get a drink of water. Now before you ask, yes I told Kaede that I was coming down here. You know me, I don't like to make Kaede worry."

"Yeah that's something you and I have in common, I don't like making Monty worry, so before coming down here, I told him I was going to get something to drink. Like Brother, like Sister right?"

"Yeah," I nodded in reply while getting a glass.

"Speaking of which, I hope Naomi is okay living at Lance's house, after all she hasn't been looking too good over the last few weeks, especially after her fight with Rimu."

"I'm sure she'll be okay, she is a trooper after all, remember she, along with Lance, were able to escape from their terrible parents, she overcame her shy attitude thus becoming the person she is today and she's bravely faced off aganist many of her own enemies without being scared. So I'm sure she'll be okay."

"Well if you're sure, then so am I. The same can also said about Rimu, she's a trooper as well. Still, I miss having them around here. It's just not the same you know."

"Yeah I know," I said while pouring some water into the glass.

We stayed quiet for a while, drinking the water in our glasses, that was until Daisy broke the silence, "since Naomi will be going to the hospital with Lance, what are you going to do when you get off work?"

"Well I guess I'll just come home and spend some time with Kaede and help her with the housework."

"How sweet," Daisy yawned, "oh excuse me. I better go to bed before I end up sleeping in the kitchen. See you in the morning Matt, have a good night sleep."

"Thanks Daisy, you too!" I called back quietly.

After my drink, I washed my glass and walked quietly back upstairs. I stopped near Naomi's room and sighed quietly before I went back to the bedroom. Kaede was awake at that time, reading one of my manga books, "You don't mind if I read one of these do you Matthew?" she asked.

"I don't mind at all Kaede, what's mine is yours. Which one are you reading anyways?"

"It's called Fairy Navigator Runa," She answered, "I like the story so far, I think it's interesting."

"Yeah it is interesting, that's why I bought the book and several other volumes of it too."

"Have you read all the books of this series?"

"Nope, I haven't had the chance to read the other volumes of this series. Hmm, hey I got an idea, after you're done reading that book, why don't we read the next one together?"

"I would like that," Kaede smiled before letting out a big yawn. She placed the book on the shelf next to our bed, then layed back down, "I'll continue reading it tomorrow," she yawned again, "good night Matthew, my love."

"Good night Kaede, my love," I leaned downwards and gave Kaede a soft kiss on the left side of her face.

She smiled at me as she closed her eyes and went to sleep. Less than a minute, I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

The following afternoon, just as I had told Daisy, I drove back to the house to see how Kaede was doing.

"Honey I'm home!" I called and chuckled quietly, "I've always wanted to say that."

"Welcome home dear," I heard Kaede call from down the hallway and giggling a little, I had to guess that she's always wanted to say that, "how was your day?"

"Well it was a busy and tiring day, Al and I did over ten different demostrations, but overall it was an okay day. What about you Kaede, how was your day?"

"It was good, I got alot of the housework done and I got a chance to read more of that book again, I'm almost done reading it, so we might be able to read volume two tonight."

Before I could say anything, we heard the phone ring, "geez that phone likes to ring whenever I want to talk," I thought to myself. I walked over to the phone and picked it up, "hello? Oh hi Damon, long time no hear," I chuckled, "I got that from Lisa...or was it Little Sis, I can't tell, they're both the same. So what's up? Oh you want us to come by for a visit? Well I guess it would be okay, I just need to check with Kaede..."

I turned my attention back to Kaede, "Damon is asking if we could come by for a visit. What do you say Kaede? Do you want to go?"

"Yes, I would like to go," she answered, "it'll be nice to see Damon, Koyuki and their daughter again."

"Alright," I then spoke to Damon, "she says yes, so we'll be more than glad to come by for a visit. Ah...no, I don't think we've ever visited your house before. Yeah we would like some directions," I chuckled quietly, "I just need a pen and some paper, hold on a..."

"Here you go Matthew," Kaede held out a pen and a small pad of paper.

"Thanks Kaede," I whispered to her, "I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't know what I would do without you."

Kaede just smiled while I wrote down all the directions Damon was telling me, "alright I got it, thanks Damon, we'll see you at around five. Okay, see you guys in a bit, bye."

I hung up the phone, just as Mr. Fuyou was coming down the stairs, "Who was that on the phone?"

"That was Officer Damon Drake," I answered. Mr. Fuyou started looking worried, "there's no need to worry Mr. Fuyou, Damon and his family are friends of ours. He's invited both Kaede and myself over for a visit at his house."

"You can join us if you want to."

"Ah that's sweet of you Kaede, but I'll just stay here and get some rest. You two can go if you want to, but what about Daisy and Monty? Are you going to ask them?"

"Ask us what?" asked a voice from behind us.

I didn't jump this time, I heard Daisy and Monty come in, "well Daisy, Damon and his family have invited us over for a visit and..."

"And you're going to ask us if we would like to come along with you guys am I right?"

"Yeah that's it excatly."

"Dang you're good," Monty whispered to Daisy.

Daisy chuckled quietly before saying to us: "Well we would love to join you guys, but we can't go, we got to work on the assignments we were given today, then we're going to meet up with Max later tonight. But thanks for the offer anyways."

At around five, Kaede and I headed off to Damon and Koyuki's home. Before we left, Kaede was reading 'Fairy Navigator Runa' volume one while I was reading some Extended Railway Series books on the Sodor Island Forums. Thanks to our good directions, we arrived at their house at around five fifteen where Koyuki and Katie were waiting for us.

"Hello Matthew, hello Kaede," Koyuki called from the front porch, "it's good to see you two again, it's been a while."

"Yes it has," said Kaede, "it's good to see you Koyuki and you too Katie. You look so cute in that dress."

"Thank you," Katie said in a cute way. She was wearing a one piece dress in bright blue and had a couple of blue ribbons holding up her pony tails, "Mommy bought me this dress yesterday."

"Well we were just walking around the megamall and Katie just saw it and so I thought, ah why not get it for her? So I bought it for her and she said she was going to safe it for a special occassion."

"Like today," Katie said in a cute way.

"So where's Damon?" I asked.

"Oh he's around here somewhere, he's either working in the garden or working on his police car in the garage," Koyuki turned to face Katie, then she got down till she was at Katie's level, "why don't you go look for daddy and let him know our guests are here."

"Sure thing mommy," Katie walked up to her mother and kissed her on the right side of her face, "I love you," and with that, she turned and ran off to find Damon.

"How sweet," Kaede smiled.

Koyuki didn't say anything for a few seconds, but we saw her wipe some tears away from her eyes, "I'm okay you two," she said before we could even ask, "sorry about that. Anyways, come on in, I'll show you around a bit."

First up, she showed us the garden with all the flowers, they even had Daisies and Roses. Next, after we took off our shoes and boots in the front enterance way, we followed Koyuki into the kitchen, "it's a very nice kitchen," said Kaede.

"Well I'm glad you like it, Damon and I have actually installed a new counter top in here and layed down new tiles too, Katie was a big help with the tiles."

"Lucky kid," I muttered, "I didn't do that kinda stuff with my parents when I was a kid. Hey Koyuki, this big window just above your sink, was that here when you moved in?"

"Yep, it was here when we first checked out the house, Damon said it reminded him a great deal of his old home when he was a kid...before it burnt down."

"What?" Kaede and I asked in unison.

"Yeah my old house burned down," said a voice from behind us. We looked to see Damon standing in the enterance doorway of the kitchen, and standing beside him was young Katie. "It was an electrical fire caused by my dad, he's a great man and all, but he's not very good at electrical work."

"Was anybody hurt?" Kaede asked nervously.

"Nope, nobody was hurt, but the house was burnt to a crisp. My grandparents took us in until we finally found a house to live in, but it was not like the old house...but this house is."

"Did your dad ever try to do electrical work again?" I asked.

"No thankfully, he learned that he can't do electrical work...actually he learned two lessons that day, one; you should never do electrical work unless you know what you're doing..."

"That's pretty much what we say on 'Tech Corner' whenever we do home renovation shows...anyways, what was the other lesson?"

"Well, he learned that when you get shocked, you can fly a good distance. Truth be told, he was actually scared of lightning for some time after that. He's still a little afraid nowadays, but not as bad as before."

"Damon," Koyuki spoke up, "we're out of milk and pop, can you go to the store and pick some up?"

"Of course I will," he answered with a nod.

"Can I go with you daddy?" Katie asked sweetly.

"Of course you can baby," he smiled and picked her up, "we'll be right back," he then turned to us, "feel free to look around the house, just be careful if you go in my office, it's a little bit of a mess. Come on Katie, let's go."

"Yipee! Car ride!" she cheered.

Again Koyuki just smiled as she watched her husband and daughter walk over to the enterance hallway. A small tear rolled down the right side of her face, "what's wrong Koyuki?" Kaede asked, "why are you crying?"

"Oh it's just...I keep thinking of how lucky that girl is to have a loving family, at least she's not going threw what I went threw."

"Let me guess, you never got along with your family right?" I asked.

"You guessed right, both my parents and my two older brothers made my everyday life a misery, they never showed any love to me at all. My brothers would shove me and my parents, they slapped me whenever I didn't do what they wanted me to do, which included some stuff I couldn't do..."

"Damn sons of bitches," I snarled under my breath, but not loud enough for Kaede and Koyuki to hear me.

"As you already know, my family sold me to that dumb baka. Originally the guy was my first boyfriend in Junior High, but he got too rough with me so I broke up with him. I thought that would be the last time I'd ever see him again...obviously I was wrong. His family are a bunch of bullies, so as you can guess, they all threatened my family that if they didn't give me up to my former boyfriend, they would pay the price."

"Bullies, I hate their type," I grumbled angerily under my breath.

"So my family gave me up," Koyuki continued, "they didn't show any regret doing that. For a long time afterwords, I lived with my former boyfriend, it wasn't good at all, cause living there was like when I was living with my family, but worse during the evening."

"Why?" Kaede asked.

"Well...let's just say, he couldn't keep his hands off me, literally." Both Kaede and I knew that meant, "if he wasn't forcing me to have..." she paused and looked around before continuing, "you know what, then he was touching me all over. He wasn't gentle either, almost every day he would hurt me badly. For a long time, I thought I would never get away from him, his family or the people who had hurt me so many times."

"Oh you poor soul," Kaede and I said in unison, for once we were saying it to someone else (remember most people say that when they hear my story).

"Then one day, things changed for the better. It was the day I met Officer Damon Drake..."

It was a cold October evening, Koyuki had been dragged to the rooftop of a school by her former boyfriend, "alright Koyuki, we're going to do it up here."

"Please no," she groaned, "I don't want to do it."

"You have no say in this, now shut your trap and keep your hands to your side!"

There was nothing Koyuki could do to stop him, for she knew that if she fought aganist him, he would beat her up badly. Her former boyfriend was a big guy with big muscles, so fighting him was not the best discision.

"Now I'll start with your breasts," he snickered. He opened her shirt up and pulled away her bra, revealing her chest to him.

Koyuki shut her eyes, she wasn't looking forward to this.

But just as the guy was about to touch her, there came a shout, "hold it right there! Don't touch her!" Both the man and Koyuki looked to see a police officer pointing his gun at the man.

"Go away copper, this doesn't concern you."

"When you are harming an innocent person, then yes it does concern me, now get down on your eyes! Do it now!"

At first, the man refused to do what he was told, but after a while, he finally followed the orders and got down on his knees. Damon walked up to him and handcuffed him...the moment he did that though, he gasped, "it's you! My department has been looking for you for some time, you're wanted for raping innocent girls, robbery and possession of illegal drugs. Same with your family too."

"Well good luck trying to find them," the man snickered, "cause I'll never tell you where they are." Then, as a stupid act, he spat in Damon's face, "how do you like that copper?"

"That's assult on a police officer too," Damon said angerily. He got out his radio and called for backup. After making the call, he walked up to Koyuki, who closed up her shirt "are you okay young lady?"

"Ah...yeah, I'm okay," she said as she stared into Damon's eyes, "he would've touched me had you not come, but how did you know we were here?"

"The security system that's how. The guard here reported a brake in and I came as soon as I could."

"Well I'm glad you did," Koyuki said as tears from her eyes, "this man is always touching me and hurting me and so his family," and she told him of what she's been going through.

"Oh you poor girl," he said kindly while running his fingers threw her hair, "well don't worry, we'll take care of them and make sure justice is served. Now why don't we get you back to your family?"

"No please," she pleaded, "they're just as the same as his family, they don't beat me up, but they make my everyday life a misery."

"Face it Koyuki, if you leave my family, then you've got nowhere to go!"

"Not another word," Damon said firmly to him. He turned his attention back to Koyuki, "you can stay with me, I've got plenty of room in my apartment."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, you can have my guest room and you can help yourself to what ever is in the fridge or the cupboards. My home is your home."

"Oh thank you so much...ah..."

"Oh sorry I guess I should've introduced myself to you before, I'm Officer Damon Drake, but you can just call me Damon."

"Well thank you so much Damon. I...and my name is Koyuki Miyako."

"Well I'm honored to meet you Koyuki," he smiled, just as the other officer arrived, "that guy is to go to the station. He and his family are wanted with so many charges, you might want to interrogate him."

"Right Damon, I'll take care of him. What about the girl?"

"She's coming with me," he grabbed Koyuki's right hand and for the first time in Koyuki's entire lifetime, she felt a soft rub on her skin, "I'll explain everything to you later."

With that said, the other officer took Koyuki's tormentor away while Damon took Koyuki back to his place.

"...shortly afterwords, Damon and I started falling in love and...well, the rest you already know," Koyuki concluded.

Both Kaede and I were at a loss of words, but after a while Kaede asked, "how old were you when Damon saved you?" she asked.

"I was 17 years old and Damon was 20 years old, he had only just started on the police force at the time. This was two years before we met you guys..." Koyuki sighed quietly, "I'm grateful for what Damon has done for me, I don't know what I would do without him."

Just then, she felt someone wrap their arms around her, she turned to look and saw Damon hugging her. Both Kaede and I had seen him come in, but he asked us to not tell Koyuki that he and Katie had just returned, he just wanted to surprise her with a gentle warm hug.

"Well Koyuki my dear, you don't ever need to find out, cause I'll be here to protect you and be here for you."

"Me too," Katie said in a cute way.

"Thank you Damon and too Katie, before you two came into my life, I was never happy, but thanks to you both, I'm so happy and I don't feel lonely anymore."

"Nobody deserves to be alone," said Katie.

"Well said Katie," smiled Damon, "you'll never be lonely again Koyuki, we promise."

"Thank you," she smiled. They hugged for almost a minute (it was a lovely family moment), then they looked back over to us, "now why don't we give you the rest of that tour of our house?"

And that's what they did, they led us around the rest of the house, starting with the basement which was actually a movie entertainment centre, "on Friday nights, we usually come down here and watch a movie on our big screen," said Damon, "it was actually here when we bought the house."

"The original owners said we could keep it," added Koyuki.

"I love movie nights," Katie said in a cute way.

In another part of the basement was an exercise room with a few pieces of equipment. The second level had their bedrooms, Koyuki and Damon's was neat and tidy, little Katie's room was...a little messy, but it wasn't that bad. On the same floor was Damon's office and as he had said, it was a little messy.

After the little walk around the house, Koyuki went into the kitchen to get started on making dinner, "Can I give you a hand with making dinner?" Kaede asked.

"Of course you can Kaede, more hands means light work," Koyuki smiled.

And so the two of them went to work while Damon and I talked in the living room. "Isn't she wonderful?" Damon asked, "I'm glad I married her...and I'm grateful that you slapped some sense back into me at my own wedding, turning my back on her would've been the worst thing I could've done."

"Well I just did what anyone would've done."

"Maybe, but not to an off duty police officer."

"That's true," I nodded in agreement.

"You know long before I met Koyuki, I used to live in an apartment all alone and I'll tell you this Matthew, it really stunk, not literally of course. I felt lonely all the time, but then when Koyuki moved in with me, well...you can guess."

"Yeah, you didn't feel lonely anymore and your everyday life became like a dream come true."

"Yep, that's it excatly."

"My life is like a dream come true," Katie spoke up, "I like being here instead of living in an orphanage. I couldn't do much there, but here I can."

"That's right sweetie," Damon smiled, getting up from his seat. He walked up to Katie and picked her up, then he gave her a hug.

"Love you daddy and I love mommy too."

"Well we love you Katie," Koyuki called from the kitchen with a big smile on her face.

Soon dinner was ready, Kaede and I helped to bring the food to the dining room table, even Katie helped by bringing in the forks and spoons to the table (how cute). Dinner itself was quite delicous and we all told that to Koyuki, "well I'm glad you guys liked it," she said, "I had a lot of help from Kaede."

"I didn't do much," said Kaede, "you did alot of the work, you're a great cook."

"Well thank you."

After we were done eating dinner (it was mostly a chicken dinner with mash potatos and corn), the five of us worked together in washing and drying all the dishes, pots and pans. When we were done there, we went back into the living room where we talked until around eight, when Katie let out a big yawn.

"I guess it's bed time for our little one," said Damon, "come on baby, it's time to go to bed."

"Alright," she yawned, "good night mommy, good night Mr. and Mrs. Gagnon."

"Good night Katie," Kaede and I said quietly to her as Damon took her back to her room. After a couple of minutes, he returned and we chatted for another hour before Kaede let out a yawn of her own, "I guess we should get going," I said, "thank you again for inviting us over."

"You're welcome," Koyuki smiled, "we're both glad you had a good time."

Damon nodded in agreement, "if you ever want to hang out again, just call us okay?" Kaede and I nodded, "and Matthew; please stay out of trouble, okay?"

"I'll try Damon," I chuckled, "but I can't make any promises."

Kaede and I said our 'good nights' to them, then we got back into the truck and drove off back to the house.


	45. The Train Show

Here we go with another chapter of Our Kinda Life, this one being about Matthew and Kaede spending some quality time together and of course, I share a bit of my knowledge of model railway train sets. Also note that one of the layouts mentioned in this story is inspired by my friend 'GeebMachine's' train set and I apologize if I sound a bit like a geek in this story, I just get excited when I talk about model railway train sets. Anyways, rating is the same and the date of this chapter is Saturday October 22nd 2011 and now here's the 45 chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 45: The Train Show**_

It was once again raining on that Saturday morning, so Kaede and I just spent most of the morning relaxing in the living room, after helping to clean up after breakfast. Kaede sat on the right side of the couch while I layed down with my head resting on her lap, "it is okay if I rest my head on your lap, isn't it?" I asked.

"Of course it is Matthew," she smiled at me, "after all, girls are a boy's favourite pillow."

"Where did you hear that?"

"Asa told me that one, she also said that a boy is a girl's favourite pillow. And you know what, I think she might be right," she said with her cute angel like smile of hers showing.

"Yeah, she's probably right," I smiled in agreement.

At that moment, Mr. Fuyou came walking into the room, again he just smiled as he stared at us, "Ah that's so sweet, it's nice to see you two spending time together."

"Well we love spending time together," we both said in unison.

He just chuckled and turned his attention to me, "I was just looking through the newspaper and I found something that you might interested in..." he handed the newspaper over to me.

"What is it Matthew?"

"It's a train show, 'Japan's Biggest Model Railway Show comes to Tokyo'."

"Yeah I saw that in the newspaper and thought you might be interested in going there, considering how much you like trains."

"Well yeah I like trains, always have ever since I was a kid and I have gone to hundreds of train shows. Although, I never knew about this train show till now. Huh..." I went back to read the article, "it says here that there are over one hundred layouts there and over 50 vendors selling anything from movies, toy trains..oh and even Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. But I won't go."

"You won't?" Mr. Fuyou asked in surprise, "how come? You like trains Matthew."

"Yeah I do, but I love Kaede and I don't want to leave her all alone..." I looked back up to my wife, "it's up to you honey, we'll do whatever you want to do. It's your choice."

"Well..." she looked thoughtful (for the record, I meant every word I said. I'm not one to turn my back on someone), anyways, after a few seconds, she gave me her answer, "I would like to...go to the train show with you."

"Really? You want to go to the train show?"

"Yep," she nodded, "I would like to go with you, wherever you want to go, I'll go with you."

"Very well then, train show it is."

"Would you like to join us daddy?"

"I love to, but I'm going to meet up with some old friends this afternoon, you know just to catch up on old times. You two can go out and have fun...oh and Daisy asked me to tell you that she and Monty are going to hang out with Primula today, so they might be late getting back home."

"Alright, thanks for letting us know," I said.

"You're welcome," he said and walked out of the room.

According to the times on the newspaper, the show started at Ten A.M. till around eight P.M., which was quite surprising considering all the train shows I used to go to usually went on till to either four or five P.M...anyways, Kaede and I headed off for the train show at around nine forty five and arrived at the convinction centre at around ten.

The convention centre is one of the biggest buildings in the entire city, this is usually where anime and manga conventions were usually held.

After paying admission, Kaede and I walked inside the main hall and...oh boy was I ever in for a shock, there _were_ over a hundred different layouts, some were in HO Scale (the most popular scale in model railroading), O Scale, N Scale and even a few garden railway layouts.

"Geez, there are so many layouts here and so many vendors too, more than I've ever seen at a train show. I don't even know where to start."

"Why don't we try that layout first," Kaede said pointing to her left and so we went to that layout first, which was a Lionel O-Scale layout. Kaede looked at the tracks a little confused, "why are there three rails on those tracks?"

"Well Kaede, you know how on most model railway train sets, the electric current goes from the power pack to the rails and into the engine or engines, then back to the power pack. With train sets like the old Lionel sets, the third rail in the middle is where the power comes from and the engines have some kind of plate underneath them which picks up the power and allows the engine to move."

"Oh okay I get it now, thanks for explaining that Matthew."

"You're welcome Kaede. You know, Lionel was the first to popularize toy trains and they've been making these model trains for quite a long time. The black steam engine on the outside track, that looks like it was made in the fifties."

"Yep that's when it was made," said one of the layout operaters, "this was my dad's engine from when he was a kid, he gave it to me most recently for our club layout. This particular engine was made in 1955, it runs pretty well and can haul quite a long train, but for our layout, we give it a twelve car limit."

"Wow," Kaede was just amazed. She pulled her digital camera out of her purse and started taking pictures, then she handed it to me so I could take films of the trains (for the record, Kaede keeps her digital camera in her purse, just in case she ever wants to take pictures).

Anyways, after looking at the Lionel layout for a while, we walked over to the second layout, "it's a Lego train set," Kaede gasped.

"Yep, it's a Lego Layout. Gosh I haven't seen these trains in a long time."

"I never knew that Lego made motorized toy trains."

"Oh yeah, Lego's been making these for years...I think they started in 2002, I'm not sure. Ever way, I like the details they put into these trains."

Once again, Kaede pulled out her digital camera and took pictures, then she handed the camera over to me, "I just want to check something out, I'll be right back okay?"

"Okay Kaede."

So while Kaede went to check out...ah whatever she wanted to look at, I took several films of the Lego trains. They even had a motorized Hogwarts Express train, "now that is rare," I thought to myself.

Just as I had finished filming, Kaede came back, carrying a small bag, "I got you a little something Matthew..." she reached into the bag and pulled out a black train hat with the original Canadian Pacific logo on it, "I saw it and thought you might like it."

"Oh Kaede that's so sweet of you, thank you," I smiled.

"You're welcome Matthew."

And still smiling at my wife, I put the hat on, it was a perfect fit, "now shall we go look at the next layout?"

"Yep, let's go," she smiled while reaching out her right hand to me. I grabbed it softly with my left hand, rubbed a small portion of her skin, then we walked over to the next layout.

The next layout was an HO scale layout of the original Canadian Pacific railway through the rocky mountains, "I chose to model the Canadian Pacific in the early 1900's," said the person in charge of operating the layout, "just to show what the railroad was like back in the early days."

"If I remember correctly," I said, "it was difficult going around the mountains in the early days, that's why years later the Canadian Pacific made the spiral tunnels, thus making it easier for trains going through the mountain."

"That would be correct," said the man, "the tunnels were made in the 1980's, just over a hundred years after the railway was first built. Say, if you're a fan of the Canadian Pacific, then you might be interested in hearing that there's a IMAX movie about it coming out soon."

"Oh really? And how do you know this?"

"I found out in this issue of TRAINS magazine, this movie shows the history of the Canadian Pacific while travelling along with the Empress 2816 as she puffs along on the Canadian Pacific railway, it's suppose to come to IMAX theatres next year."

"Well then we'll keep an eye out for that movie, it sounds quite interesting."

Whilst I was talking with the guy, Kaede took some pictures of the layout, which was very detailed, "how long did it take you to build this train set?" Kaede asked the man.

"It's taken us about four years to build this layout," the man answered, "we actually only just finished the layout two nights ago. We're pleased with it, all the hard work we had put into this has payed off."

"Indeed," I agreed, "it's a very nice layout you have here...say, are those brass engines you've got there?"

"Yep," the man nodded, "brass models painted by everyone in the club."

Once Kaede had finished taking her pictures, she handed the camera over to me and I took several films of the trains. When we were finished there, we went over to one of the vendors which was selling some interesting items.

"Look at these Kaede, these are Ertl Die-Cast Thomas trains. I never thought I'd see these again."

"How come?"

"Well it's mostly because the Ertl Die-Cast Thomas trains are rare now. Back in 2002, Ertl had announced that it was going to discontinue the line-up, the UK got two more years worth of trains, but Americans and Canadians never got them and before long, these trains started coming off the shelves, being sold for the last time."

"Is that why you got so many of them in their boxes?"

"Yep," I nodded, "if they stay in their boxes, then they're more valuable than they would be outside them. So as soon as I heard the annoucement, I started buying as many as I could, as you can tell through my little collection at home," I sighed quietly, "sadly some slipped through my fingers, sort to speak, and I haven't seen them since...well, up till today. Anyways, I'm just going to get a few, then we'll go look at the rest of the layouts okay?"

"Okay Matthew, take your time, there's no hurry."

"Alright," I smiled and looked through the trains. I found quite a few that I was looking for and these are what I found: Salty the Dockside Diesel, James with the old green coaches (very, very rare), Gordon, Edward in the first edition box, and Harvey the Crane Engine, these were the ones I got, all the others I had. "Okay I'm done here, ready to check out another layout?"

"Yep," Kaede nodded and grabbed my hand once again, then we walked off to check out the next layout.

The next layout was a Garden Railways layout, it was a quite a big layout, (which sat on the floor considering it's size), the second layout after that was a Japanese HO scale layout with home-made engines, "each engine takes us about six to seven weeks to put together," said one of the layout operators, "some engines were difficult to put together, but overall, these engines run perfectly well and can haul quite heavy trains behind them."

"Is it hard to build your own engines?" Kaede asked.

"A little bit yes, but it gives a great deal of satisfaction in knowing what you've built will soon be running and be seen by others."

After taking lots of pictures (and I do mean lots) and filming the trains, we walked over to the next layout. It was an almost exact replica of the Burlington Northern Chicago Racetrack, showing the Burlington Northern and other railroads in the 1990's long before the mergers of several of the railroads.

"I have to admit this, this is one of the biggest N-Scale layouts I ever seen," I said.

Following that layout was an LMS and LNER railway layout with tonnes of steam engines on it. After that, we sat in a small theatre which was playing train movies from all over the world, the movie that was playing right now was a movie on the Bluebell Railway celebrating their 50 year anniversary. The guy showing off these movies was also selling copies of that movie and many others too, so Kaede and I got a movie on the Bluebell Railway and one of the Canadian Railways in the Rocky Mountains.

For the next hour and a half, Kaede checked all the different layouts, there were indeed at least a hundred different layouts.

Soon we reached the last layout in the building, which was a Thomas & Friends layout with Bachmann Thomas trains and a few Hornby items.

"This is quite an impressive layout you have here," I said to the man operating the layout, "how long did it take you to build this?"

"It took about four months to complete the entire layout, despite the minor fisaco of one of the table legs breaking apart and knocking the whole layout over, everything else went smoothily."

"How did it take you to get everything on the layout?" Kaede asked.

"Four years," he answered, "that's how long it's taken me to collect every item on this train set. My model of Salty you see running around, that's actually my latest item I bought today, along with these trucks..." he pulled out a bag full of Bachmann Thomas trucks, "I'll probably take them out of their boxes and put them on the layout sometime later today."

"Do you have all the engines?"

"Nope, I'm actually missing Spencer from Bachmann, I'm going to try to find him later this afternoon. In the meantime, I'm quite happy with the collection I have so far."

Following our little discussion with the man, Kaede took some pictures of the entire layout, then I filmed some of the trains as they rolled along.

When we were done there, Kaede and I sat down at one of the nearby benches to rest our feet, "wow, that's more layouts than I have ever seen in one train show. In fact it's like all the train shows I've ever been to all rolled into one. Hey Kaede, I want to ask you, are you having a good time so far?"

"Of course I am," she nodded, "I always have a great time with you Matthew, no matter where we go."

"Well I'm glad to hear that cause you know I'm having a good time with you. It's better than going to a train show all alone."

"All alone?" Kaede raised an eyebrow when she heard me say that, "I thought you and your dad went to the train shows together."

"When I was a kid yes, but getting into my teenage years, he stopped taking me to train shows, so once I got my driver's license, I went to all the train shows all alone. It was alright at times, I was never rushed and I could look at the train sets for as long as I wanted to, but it did get awfully lonely just walking around by myself. That's why I'm glad to be here with you Kaede."

"Well I'm happy to be here with you Matthew," Kaede smiled and rested her head on my left shoulder. I just smiled at her and placed my left hand on her shoulder and held her close to me.

"Hey Kaede, are you hungry?"

"Yes I am," she nodded.

"Alright, well I can see a pizza stand not too far from where we are, I can get us a couple of slices of pizza if you want."

"Can you get me a pepperoni and cheese pizza please?" she asked sweetly.

"Of course I will, I'll get you a pepperoni and cheese pizza and I'll get us a couple bottles of water."

"Thanks Matthew." So while Kaede waited by the bench, I walked over to the pizza stand. I returned moments later with our orders and gave Kaede her slice of pizza and her water, "thank you Matthew, what did you get?"

"Pepperoni and Cheese pizza and a bottle of water, same as you," to prove it, I showed Kaede of what I got, "great minds think alike right?"

"Right," she nodded and giggled.

Once Kaede and I had finished eating our pizzas and finished drinking our drinks, we continued walking around the train show. We checked out some of the layouts again and bought some more stuff from the vendors, Kaede bought two books, one on the Southern Pacific Railway and one on the Steam locomotives around the world. As for me, I got two VHS tapes on other Model Railways and I bought a few Bachmann Thomas trucks and two engines.

"Okay I think that's enough shopping for one day," I said afterwords.

"Actually I'm not done yet," said Kaede, "why don't you take some pictures with my camera and I'll join you in a bit."

"Okay Kaede, but where are we going to meet after your done?"

"Ah..." Kaede looked around and pointed to the Thomas layout, "I'll meet you over there by the Thomas train set okay?"

"Okay," with that confirmed, Kaede walked off while I went to video tape and photograph some of the layouts again. The first layout I checked out was an HO Scale layout of the Canadian Pacific with the modern day railway and with one steam engine running around with coaches and that engine was...the 2816, CPR's Empress, the second layout I checked out was a Denver and Rio Grande Narrow Gauge railway in a scale that smaller than HO Scale, but still bigger than N-Scale.

The third layout I checked out before going to meet up with Kaede again, was another narrow gauge railway layout, but it was different from the D&RG railway, this one is of British Narrow Gauge Railways, which means there are 2 feet in between the rails where as the D&RG and the Japanese Steam Railways are 3 foot gauge railways.

When I was done filming, I went to meet up with Kaede, who was waiting by the Thomas layout.

"So what did you get Kaede?" I asked.

"I got you a few more Bachmann Thomas trucks," she said and showed me the trucks she got. She got at least seven of them, "I got these for you Matthew. Now you can add these to your layout."

"Well thank you Kaede, this is so sweet of you, but I think I need to correct you on something."

"What's that?"

"It's not my layout..." I grabbed her right hand with my left hand and rubbed a small patch of skin, "it's _our_ layout. What's mine is yours too, okay?"

"Okay Matthew...in that case, I got these trucks for our layout."

"Alright," I just couldn't help but smile at her, "so are you done your shopping?"

"Yep, I'm done. But before we go, why don't take one more look at this layout."

"Sure Kaede," so before we left, Kaede took some more pictures of the layout and watched as the trains rolled along and we even watched the new 'Salty' engine pull the new trucks around the layout. After that, we headed off for home.

When we got home at around Three O'Clock, Daisy, Monty and Mr. Fuyou were still out, so we went back to the living room to relax.

"Well that was a lot of fun," I said as I rested my head on Kaede's lap again, "and we got alot of interesting stuff too. Kaede, thanks again for the Bachmann Thomas trucks and for that hat too."

"You're welcome Matthew," she smiled.

"So, what do you want to do now?"

"How about we just...relax for a bit."

"Sure, sounds like a good idea to me."

And that's just what we did too, Kaede and I relaxed in the living room with the TV volume on low. Soon though, we grew tired, so we closed our eyes and went to sleep.

Mr. Fuyou, Monty and Daisy returned home at around five thirty, "I wonder if Matt and Kaede had a good time at the train show."

"I'm sure they did," said Monty, "but where are they?"

"I think I know where they are," said Mr. Fuyou. He took off his shoes and walked over to the living room very quietly. He turned the handle and pushed the door open a little bit, "just as I thought, they're sleeping in there."

Daisy and Monty came to take a look, sure enough they could see Kaede and I sleeping, "oh how cute," Daisy smiled, but then gasped as she saw us yawning, open our eyes and looking over towards them, "oh shoot, we must've woken them up."

"No you didn't," said Kaede, "we were just getting up."

"Ah okay," said Monty. He, Daisy and Mr. Fuyou walked into the living room and saw our bags, "boy that's alot of stuff you guys got there."

"Did you have a good time at the train show?" Daisy asked.

"We did," Kaede and I answered in unison.

"Good thing you spotted that article in the newspaper this morning Mr. Fuyou," I said to Kaede's father, "it was a great show, we saw tonnes, and I do mean 'tonnes' of layouts there and we got some interesting stuff there too."

"We got a couple of DVDs, VHS tapes, Ertl Die Cast Thomas trains and...well, we got alot of stuff," Kaede giggled.

"We'll show you guys after dinner of what we got and show you the pictures and videos we took of the layouts as well." I turned my attention back to my wife, "would it be okay if I made dinner for everyone tonight?"

"Of course it would be okay Matthew, but would it be alright if I gave you a hand?"

"Of course you can Kaede, many hands make light work."

Kaede just giggled, then she leaned down and kissed me...not on my forehead or on my cheeks, but on the lips. Mr. Fuyou, Daisy and Monty remained quiet during that time (I don't think they wanted to ruin our moment). After our short twenty second kiss, we got up from the couch and headed for the door. "Dinner will be ready soon," we both said in unison again. We looked at each other, giggled and then walked out of the room and over to the kitchen while holding hands as per usual.


	46. They're Back!

As recalled in Chapter 29 'First Crush', Sia and Dave went away to Paris France, well...I'm happy to say that these two lovebirds finally return to the city of Tokyo. So this chapter is about them and of course, Eustoma and Kikyou make another return into this series. Anyways, rating is the same as always for swearing and for a cute moment between Sia and Dave, also this chapter's date is Sunday October 23rd 2011. Also note that some portions of this chapter are in third person narration. Anyhow, that's all I have to say for now, I hope you will enjoy reading this episode of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 46: They're Back!**_

After eating breakfast the following next morning, I helped Kaede do the housework while Daisy, Monty and Mr. Fuyou went off to the grogery store. By the time they got back, they found us outside working on my truck.

"Done already?" Daisy asked.

"Yep," I answered, "the old saying is true, 'many hands make light work'. Ah Kaede, can you pass me the wrench?"

"Sure Matthew." She reached over to the tool box, pulled out the wrench and handed it to me, "here you go dear."

"Thanks honey," I said as I excepted it. As I worked, I heard some grumbling coming from one of our neighbour's houses, "sounds like Sia's dad is upset about something."

"I am upset about something," I heard him say. Hearing him took me by surprise and I banged my forehead...again.

"Are you okay Matthew?" Kaede asked with a worried tone in her voice.

"Ow," I groaned, "I'm fine Kaede," I answered her. I rolled out from underneath the truck and saw Eustoma standing close by to his gate and looking angry, "alright I'll ask, what's bothering you this time?"

"I'm just waiting for Sia to come home so I can have a little chat with her."

"You're still not excepting her relationship with Dave right?" I asked. Eustoma didn't answer, "I thought you guys went over this before," still there was silence.

"This time I'll ask," Daisy piped up, "how long have you been waiting for Sia?"

"Too long," he answered simply.

"Three days to be honest," said another voice, it was wife, Cineraria. "Honey, Sia and Dave will return soon, till then don't waste your time waiting around for her and for crying out loud, leave those two alone!"

Eustoma huffed angerily and walked back to the house.

Cineraria sighed before turning her attention back to us, "he's been like this ever since Sia and Dave left for Paris. He's worried that those two have...ah, you know..."

"You can say the word in front of us," said Daisy, "we're not little kids after all."

"True, but I still won't say it in front of you. Anyways, getting back to what I was talking about, my husband has some trust issues with Sia and Dave. He said once they get back, he's going to ask them questions and he's not letting them go until he gets his answers."

"Talk about trust issues," muttered Monty, but loud enough for all of us to hear.

"He's got to learn to trust his daughter and Mr. Sutton," said Mr. Fuyou, "I've always trusted Kaede and Matthew and to this day I still do."

"I do agree with you Mr. Fuyou, but my husband does have trusting issues, he's always had them even to when I first met him. It's just who he is," she sighed again, turned around and walked back into the house.

Moments later, Kikyou came into view wearing black clothing, "Kikyou? Are you going Goth?"

"What's it to you?" she asked angerily, pushed the gate open and walked off towards her house.

"Well at least now we'll be able to tell Sia and Kikyou apart," said Monty as a little joke, but went into silence the moment he saw us staring firmly at him, "ah...never mind, forget I said anything," and without saying another word, he walked off to the house with Daisy following along behind.

"Some things just don't change," I chuckled quietly, but sighed unhappily, remembering that some things _have_ changed.

Mr. Fuyou followed Daisy and Monty inside with the rest of the grogeries, leaving Kaede and I to do our work. A few minutes later, we heard footsteps walking away from Sia and Kikyou's house, "who is that Kaede?"

"It's Kikyou and her dad," she answered, "I think they're going shopping, I can see them with those recyclable bags."

"Yeah that's probably what they're going to do. Hey Kaede, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't Michael, Sakura and Rose suppose to come back less than a week ago?"

"They were orginally going to do that, but they voted to stay in New York for a little bit longer before coming back."

"Let me guess, Sakura told you this over the phone right?"

"Yep, she called me a few days ago and told me that they'll probably be coming back this upcoming week. Probably around the same time Sia and Dave come back."

"Actually we're back right now," said a voice from nearby. It made me jump and bump my head again.

"Ow!" I groaned.

"Sorry Matthew, I didn't mean to spook you," said the voice. It sounded awfully familar, I rolled out from underneath the truck and gasped...for there standing in front of us were two people we haven't seen in a long time...Sia and Dave! "No time no see huh?"

"Yeah," Kaede smiled, "Welcome back," she walked up to Sia and gave her a hug, then she gave a hug to Dave.

"Kaede said it best, welcome back you two," I smiled and gave Sia a hug and high fived Dave, "you guys look tired though, did you not get any sleep last night?"

"Ah no we did not," Sia answered, "we were just too excited to sleep..." just then, we heard a little grumble, "and by the sounds of it, we forgot to eat too."

"Well if you would like, we can make you something to eat," Kaede suggested kindly.

"You would really do that for us?"

"You bet we would," I answered, "and while we're doing that, you can tell us about Paris."

"Sure, sounds good." And so, the four of us walked into the house. Kaede, Sia and Dave walked over to the kitchen while I went upstairs to wash my hands.

I quickly washed my hands and headed off downstairs, "hey Matt, what's the rush?" Daisy asked.

"No rush, I'm just heading off back downstairs to help Kaede make lunch and to have a chat with Sia and Dave."

"Sia and Dave?!" Daisy exclaimed, "they're back?!"

"Yep, they're back. They're in the kitchen right now if you want to say hello." And sure enough, Daisy and Monty (after she told him) followed me downstairs to say hello to Sia and Dave. Kaede was at the counter already getting started on making lunch for all of us. "So Sia, Dave, did you have a good time in Paris?"

"You bet, we had a wonderful time in Paris, Dave and I got to spend a lot of quality time together and we saw lots of interesting sights. We got plenty of pictures to show you, especially of our _huge_ hotel room."

"Huge isn't even the right word to describe the room as you'll see later on," said Dave.

"But enough about us, what's been going on since we left? Come to think of it, where are Rimu and Naomi, I thought they would come out to say hello to us."

"Well a lot has happened since you guys left," I said, "as for Primula and Little Sis, it's a long story."

And so we told them of everything that went on after they left, which included the rivalry between Primula and Naomi, the fights I had been involved in, the double date with Nerine and Daryl and even Rin punching Kira after she went too far.

"Seriously?" Sia asked after a while, "Rin actually punched a girl?"

"Yeah he did, Kaede and I didn't believe it ourselves and we had actually seen the whole thing. Rin sure surprised all of us that day, but if he hadn't done that, you know I would've. Well, either that or it would've been Kaede or Asa who did that."

"What a b...ah...baka," Dave corrected himself.

"Dave, you don't need to correct yourself around me or Monty, we're not kids anymore...gosh I feel like I'm experiencing Deja Vu here...and yes I know Matt says that sometimes. It's no wonder why people call me a female version of him."

"They actually say that?" Sia asked.

"Oh yeah," Monty nodded, "both Daisy and I hear that quite a bit."

"First time I'm hearing about it," I said.

Sia chuckled a bit, but then showed a serious look on her face, "so that rivalry between Rimu and Naomi, it's been going on ever since we left?"

"Yep, pretty much," I nodded unhappily, "it got so bad that we had Primula move out and stay at Max's house, until most recently. Now she's at Rin and Asa's house and Little Sis moved out and is now staying at Lance's house, she said there were too many memories here and decided to move out until she and Primula can work things out."

"Yikes, we have missed quite a bit haven't we Dave?"

"Yep, we sure have," he nodded.

"So what are you guys going to do afterwords?" Monty asked, "are you going to go over to Sia's house?"

"I will, but not Dave, my dad isn't too happy that Dave took me to Paris," Sia answered just as Kaede and I brought the food over to the table, "so I think it's best if he stays away just for a while. You know my dad, he has trusting issues."

"Oh we know," Kaede and I muttered in unison.

Kaede called her father down for lunch. When he came downstairs, he said hello to Dave and Sia, then we all sat down for lunch.

Afterwords, Dave and Sia helped us wash the dishes before heading off back to their places, "thank you for lunch," Sia said kindly, "it was delicous. You know something, I had almost forgotten how good your cooking was."

"Well we're glad you both liked it," smiled Kaede.

"We were more than glad to make it for you guys," I added.

"Well thank you again," smiled Dave, "now I'm going to head off back to the house, I'm sure Daryl is going to be quite surprised to me back. Anyways, I'll see you later Sia, call me if you need me."

"Alright Dave and thanks again for taking me to Paris."

"You're welcome," he smiled. He kissed Sia on the left side of her face, then he picked up his suitcases and headed off back to his house.

"Well I guess it's time for me to go home, I sure hope my dad is in a better mood than he was before. Anyways, I'll see you two later...oh and if you see Rimu and Naomi, tell them that both Dave and I said hello."

"Will Do," Kaede and I said in unison.

Sia just giggled, "I'm glad to see that some things just don't change," she smiled. She picked up her suitcases, turned and then headed off back to her house.

In the kitchen of Sia's house, Cineraria was just cleaning up after making some lunch for herself when she heard someone coming in. "Honey? Kikyou? Is that you?"

"No it's not," said the voice, "it's me mom...Sia." Sia stepped into the room with a big smile on her face, "I'm back."

"Oh my little girl, welcome home," her mother smiled and walked up to her to give her a hug. Sia wrapped her arms around her mother and hugged her back, "so how was Paris?"

"It was good, Dave and I had a good time and we got lots of pictures."

"So you're back," said a voice from behind Sia. Right away, she knew who it was...she turned and saw her father standing right behind her with a firm look on his face. Kikyou stood close by, also with the same look upon her face.

"Monty was right, you are going Goth," Sia said to Kikyou.

"Never that now," Eustoma said firmly, "You got some questions to answer young lady."

"Yeah I knew this was coming," she groaned, "look can you just give me a minute to bring my suitcases back to my room, then I'll come back out to answer your..."

"Sorry, but you are not leaving until you answer my questions. Kikyou; take her suitcases to her room."

"No don't!" Sia cried and quickly grabbed her suitcases, "I have some fragile stuff in these suitcases that I bought for you guys and as I know all too well, Kikyou is not good with carrying fragile stuff."

"Yes I am, now give me your suitcases and plant your ass in that chair!"

"Kikyou, that is no way to speak to your sister," Cineraria said firmly. "Good ahead Sia, take your suitcases to your room."

"Thanks mom," Sia smiled. She turned and walked off back to her room. She returned moments later, not looking too happy this time around, "okay, so what do you want to ask me?"

"For starters, did you and Dave sleep together?"

"Did you shower together?" added Kikyou.

"Did you do _it_?" Eustoma asked, "and don't you lie to me young lady, otherwise..."

"In answer to your questions," Sia groaned unhappily, "yes we slept together, there was only one bed in the room, as for your other two questions, it's none of your business and I had a good time in Paris thank you very much."

"You did both those things with him," Kikyou blurted out.

"I knew it was a bad idea for you to go to Paris with Dave," Eustoma said angerily, "we can't leave you two alone for one second without worrying if you're going to do it."

"Now hold on, I didn't say we did it..."

"Enough lies, Sia...you are grounded and I don't want you to ever see Dave again."

"You can't do this!"

"Honey, maybe you should take a breather and just calm down..."

"Not now Cineraria, I'm trying to teach Sia an important lesson," he turned his attention back to Sia, "the next time we call that Sutton boy back here, I want you to dump him and I will fix you up with someone else."

"The hell you will! I will not dump Dave!"

"Sia, watch the swearing," her mother advised her.

"Sorry Mom, but I will not allow Dad and Kikyou to run my life like I have no choice. Now Dad, Kikyou; you are going to listen to me, I love Dave and I will not allow you to split us up, it's my choice, not yours."

"It wasn't always like that Sia, we parents used to chose your future husband."

"Yeah well that was then and this is now! Besides, you can't punish me for going away for a while!"

"Maybe not, but I can punish you for what you did during the trip."

"You're in big trouble now Sia," Kikyou added with a quiet chuckle, "I'm going to love seeing you get punished."

"Oh no you won't, cause I'm not sticking around here. Mom, I'm sorry to have to do this again, but until these two start talking with some sense, I'm not staying here, I'm leaving!"

She stormed back to her room, grabbed her suitcases one more time and walked out of the house, despite Kikyou and her father yelling at her. Sia didn't stop, she ran away from her home, knowing that there was only place she could go to...Dave's house.

At the Sutton house, Dave was having a conversation with his brother and Nerine while he was doing some unpacking. He already told them of some of the things he and Sia did during their little trip, "sounds like you had a good time," said Nerine.

"We did," Dave nodded, "it was nice to visit Paris and to spend quality time together...all the same, there is no place like home."

"Well said brother," smiled Daryl.

Just then, they heard the doorbell, "were you guys expecting any company?" Dave asked. Both Daryl and Nerine shook their heads. Dave walked over to the front door to see who it was. The person on the other end of the door was growing impatient as they rang the doorbell several times. "Alright I'm coming!" Dave called.

He finally got to the door, he turned the handle and opened it only to find Sia standing on the other side.

"Sia? What brings you here?"

"I had a fight with my father and sister again, this time they've gone too far."

"What happened?"

"My father wanted to punish me over what we did in Paris, he thinks you and I actually did it."

"What? That's not true, we spent the entire trip enjoying the sights of Paris."

"Yeah I told them that, but my father wouldn't believe me and of course Kikyou was of no help at all. I just couldn't stay there, so I was wondering, can I stay with you for a while?"

"Sure Sia, you can stay here for as long as you want to. You can have my bed while I sleep on the couch."

"Thanks Dave," Sia said quietly and sighed unhappily, "somehow I knew that my father and my sister would do this the moment we come home." She sighed once more, then walked off to Dave's room with her suitcases.

Nerine offered to go by Sia's place to get some of her other clothes. When Nerine arrived at the house, she found Sia's mother already there waiting for her, "you're here to get Sia's clothes right?"

"Yep," Nerine nodded.

"Well I already took care of that, I put the rest of her clothes into this suitcase," to prove it, she held out a suitcase full of clothes, "tell Sia that if she ever needs anything, just give me a call."

"I'll tell her," said Nerine as she excepted the suitcase from Cineraria.

She turned and walked away from the house, "hey Nerine," she heard a voice call from nearby, she looked to the direction of the voice and saw me close by.

"Hello Matthew, what are you doing out here?"

"I'm giving my truck a good polish...hey, do you know what all the yelling was about earlier?"

"You heard all that?"

"Yes I heard that and so did Kaede, we heard a lot of shouting earlier."

"Well I wasn't actually here when they were fighting, but..." Nerine told me everything that Sia had told her and why she was picking up some of Sia's clothes, "...so now Sia is staying at Dave's house."

"Oh for crying out loud not again, didn't Sia's dad learn anything last time he fought Sia on this similar subject?"

"I guess not," sighed Nerine, "anyway, I got to go, Sia is waiting for these and I don't her worrying into thinking that I'm having a discussion with her father and sister. I'll see you later Matthew."

"Yeah see you later Nerine," I called to her as she turned and walked away. I only shook my head and went back to work, "once bitten, twice shot," I muttered to myself.

Later that evening (around eleven), Sia was trying to sleep in Dave's bed, but no matter how many times she tossed and turned, she just could not sleep. She was still upset over what happened before.

Just then, she heard the door creaking open, "Who's there?" she asked nervously.

"Oh sorry Sia, I didn't mean to wake you up," said the voice, "I just came here to get my pajamas."

"It's alright Dave, truth be told I just couldn't sleep at all," she sighed unhappily. "Hey listen I want to thank you again for letting me stay with you and Daryl, I just can't go home right now."

"It's alright Sia, besides I enjoy your company," he smiled and sat down beside Sia on the bed.

"Well I enjoy your company too...it's just my dad and sister assumed that we did it while we were in Paris. I mean sure, we slept in the same bed together, but that's no big deal. I mean, Matthew and Kaede did that all the time when they were a couple and no one complained about that."

"Yeah that's true. Still, your dad is just looking out for you, no matter what, you are still his daughter and he feels like he has to protect you."

"Maybe, but I wish he wouldn't follow us or say to me that I should dump you and that he'll arrange for someone else to be with me. He treats me like I'm an object."

"Well sometimes there are parents who are over protective, they just don't want anything happening to their child."

"Yeah I guess so."

"Well anyways, try and get some sleep okay Sia? We've had a long day. Good night," he leaned forward and kissed Sia on her forehead.

He got up from the bed and headed off for the door, but just before he walked out of the room, Sia called out to him. "Dave, why don't you sleep with me?" she suggested, "This is your bed after all."

"Are you sure you want to sleep with me again tonight?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"No reason I was just wondering."

"Alright...oh and please close the door and lock it." Dave did as he was told, he closed the door and locked it, then he walked over to the bed and climbed in beside Sia. He looked over to Sia and saw _that_ look in her eyes, a look he hasn't seen in a long time.

"Sia, do you..."

"Yeah," she nodded, "only if you want to."

"Well...I want to...as long as you want to."

"Of course I want to," she whispered and moved closer to Dave so that she could give him a kiss on the lips. They kissed with so much passion for almost two minutes when their lips seperated and a trail of saliva fell onto the bed.

Both of them got up from the bed and started undressing each other, Dave undressed Sia and Sia undressed Dave.

With their clothes off, Sia got onto the bed and Dave climbed on after her, then they made love.


	47. Being Stubborn

And here's the continuation of where we left off with the previous chapter 'They're Back!', Sia and Dave are in trouble once again. Anyways, the chapter is rated is still M for mild swearing and special moments, as I call it and the date of this chapter is Monday October 24th 2011, also I would like to dedicate this chapter to all my friends, both online and in real life. And now, here's the 47th chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 47: Being Stubborn**_

"Matthew," I heard a sweet voice call out to me, "it's time to wake up love."

I slowly opened my eyes and looked up to see Kaede looking down at me with her really cute smile showing, "good morning Kaede my love," I smiled, "sleep well last night?"

"Yep," she nodded, "I did sleep well last night, what about you?"

"I slept well too," I answered. Kaede just continued smiling at me, then she leaned down for a kiss on the lips.

We started kissing, that was until we heard some loud shouting coming from one of our neighbour's houses, "Sia's house," Kaede and I groaned in unison. We got up from the bed, got on our housecoats and walked downstairs where we met up with Daisy, "hey Daisy, how long have they been fighting?"

"Oh quite a while now, at first they weren't yelling too much and now...well you can guess."

"Yeah their volume has gotten a little loud."

"Did they wake you two up?"

"No," Kaede answered, "we were just getting up. What are you doing down here anyways Daisy?"

"Well originally I came down here for a drink of water cause I was thirsty and then I heard some shouting going on at Sia and Kikyou's house...and by the sounds of the conversation, it doesn't sound very polite."

"Conversations like that never do," I whispered.

"Hmm, good point...by the way, where is Sia? I thought she went home after talking with us yesterday."

"She did, but she left...take a wild guess why?"

"Oh let's see, her father and Kikyou accused her of having s...ah...making out," she corrected herself, "Sia tried to defend herself, they didn't believe her and she stormed out."

"Yep, pretty much," I nodded.

"Man talk about bloomin' Deja Vu," she said while shaking her head, "some people just don't learn. Well anyways, as long as we're up, why don't we get started on making breakfast?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Kaede and I said in unison. We looked at each other, chuckled quietly and followed Daisy into the kitchen to get started on breakfast.

Later on in the morning at around six forty five, the sun was shining threw the windows of Dave Sutton's bedroom. It shone brightly onto Dave's face, "uh," he groaned, "darn, that sunlight is bright." He turned to his left and saw a sleeping Sia next to him. At first, he was wondering why Sia was sleeping with him, but he quickly remembered what he and Sia did the night before.

The sun shone onto Sia's face, making her wake up, "damn, that's bright," she groaned. She blinked several times, then looked to see Dave laying next to her.

"Good morning Sia, how do you feel this morning?"

"How do I feel?" she asked with a smile on her face, "I feel great. Last night was just wonderful. I'll say this about you Dave Sutton, you sure know how to cheer a girl up."

"Well you know me, I'll do anything to cheer you up."

"Yeah I do know," she sighed as she turned till she was laying on her back, "gosh it's been a long time since we've made love."

"Not since June."

"Really? Is that how long it's been since we last made love?" Sia asked, sounding surprised. Dave nodded his head, "wow, I thought it was longer than that, it sure felt like it. Hey Dave, would it be okay if I use your shower?"

"Of course it's okay Sia, there's no need to ask. My place is your place."

"Thanks," Sia smiled. She got up till she was sitting upright, then she leaned in and gave Dave a long slow beautiful kiss on the lips for two minutes. After their kiss, their lips seperated and a thin line of saliva fell in between them, "can you get me my pajamas Dave?"

"Sure Sia," he nodded.

He got up from the bed, picked up Sia's pajamas and handed them to her, "Thanks Dave, I won't take too long."

Sia quickly got changed into her pajamas, same with Dave, then she walked over to the washroom while Dave walked into the kitchen where he found his brother Daryl making breakfast.

"Hmm, that smells good," Dave smiled, "it's great to smell home cooking again."

"Didn't you guys have home cooked meals while you were in Paris?" Daryl asked.

"Nah, surprising as it may sound, our room didn't have a kitchen..." their conversation was cut short by the phone, "who'd be calling this early in the morning?"

It rang a few times before the answering machine turned on with the message: "This is Dave and Daryl Sutton," it was both the twin's voice on the machine, "we can't come to the phone now, so please leave a message after the beep."

"Alright Mr. Sutton, I know you have been fooling around with my daughter and let me tell you, if I ever see you, I will give you a piece of mind, unless you return Sia back here right now..." but the rest of the message was cut off as the phone was slammed down.

"Boy are we ever in trouble," groaned Dave.

"Who was that?" Dave and Daryl turned around and Sia in the doorway with a towel wrapped around her, "I thought I heard the phone ring."

"Well you did hear the phone ring Sia. It was your dad," and Dave told Sia of what her father had said. "So what are you going to do Sia, are you going to talk to him?"

"No, I can't talk to him when he's like that. Even if I did, he'd just accuse us of...well you know, even if we say we didn't do it...in Paris," she muttered, quickly blushing into a deep shade of red, "I'm not going to talk to someone who's going to excuse us for doing something we didn't do."

"Well it's like I said last night, he's just looking out for you, he's just doing it in his own way."

"Yeah I know," Sia sighed unhappily. She then turned her attention to Daryl, "I envy you and Rina right now, at least her father approves of your relationship." She sighed again before turning around and heading back to the washroom. As for the Sutton twins, they went to work in making breakfast.

At around seven thirty that morning, Daisy, Monty and I were just getting ready to head out, "so Kaede, what are you going to do today?" I asked my beautiful wife.

"I'm going to spend some time talking with my dad and then I'll do some of the housework," she answered, "oh and I got a text message from Naomi, she's wondering if you can pick her up after school and take her to the hospital."

"Why?"

"Well, Lance has come down with a nasty cold, so he's going to be in bed for a few days."

"Oh. Well I'll be more than glad to take Naomi to the hospital again."

"In that case, I'll send her a text message right now and let her know."

"Alright," I then turned my attention back to Daisy and Monty, "have a good day at school you two and say hello to Primula from both of us okay?"

"You got it Matt," smiled Daisy, "and thanks. We'll see you later," they both said in unison.

With their shoes on and while carrying their bags, they walked out of the hallway, down the pathway and headed off down the street. "Well I guess I better get going, I'll see you when I get home Kaede. Have a good day," I leaned forward and kissed her on the lips for a few seconds.

"I will," she said after our kiss, "and you have a good day at work dear."

"Thank you honey."

Of course before I walked out, Kaede handed me my lunch, I had almost forgotten it again. I thanked her, kissed her and then walked over to the truck. As I reached the street, who should I find standing close by, but Eustoma and like yesterday, he looked angry.

"Hello sir, what brings you out here this morning?"

"I need to ask you for a favour...I want you to get Sia and bring her back here."

"Bring Sia back here? Hmm well I could, but I have to know, did she actually say that she _wanted_ to come back here?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. He shook his head, "didn't think so. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to force Sia to come back here aganist her will. In fact, I'm on her side this time."

"What?" he asked in surprise.

"You excused her of doing something she didn't do and yet you refuse to listen to the truth. So until you can finally listen to your daughter, I'm not helping you this time. Besides, I got to get going to work, I don't want to be late."

With that said, I climbed into the truck and drove away while Eustoma cursed and swore at the top of his lungs.

"Man he's a huge set of lungs," I thought to myself.

When work was done for the day, I drove up to the school. Once I got there, I walked up to the building where I saw a familar red head waiting for me, "hey Big Bro!" she called and ran up to me. She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a big hug.

"Hey Little Sis, it's good to see you too."

"Gosh I missed you, Kaede and Daisy too. You guys staying out of trouble? Did you go to that train show on the weekend? And is it true that Sia and Dave are back?"

"How did you...ah never mind, Daisy probably told you everything."

"And I saw the article of the train show in the newspaper. So, will you answer my questions?"

"Yeah I will," I chuckled, it was nice to see her in such a cheerful mood. "First off, yes we have been staying out of trouble. Yes, Kaede and I went to the train show together and yes, Sia and Dave are back, well...sort of."

"Huh?"

"Long story, I'll explain on the way to the hospital. Got all your stuff?"

"Yep, I got everything Big Bro."

"Good," I turned on my heel, then the two of us walked off to the truck.

Meanwhile at 'Flora', Sia was doing her shift alongside Kareha and Asa, "it's good that you're back Sia," said Asa, "Kareha and I were having more than enough problems serving the costumers."

"Let me guess, too many of them?"

"Yeah, it seems that Flora has become very popular lately..." Asa paused and looked over to the doorway, only to see Eustoma come in, "ah Sia, your dad is here."

"Oh sh...shoot," she corrected herself before she could say a swear word, "I can only guess why he's here."

Eustoma sat down at one of the booths and waited patiently. Kareha came walking over to his table, "good afternoon sir, what can I get for you?" she asked kindly.

"A Strawberry sundie, and I wish to speak with my daugther."

"Ah okay, well I'll get your order right away sir..."

"And tell my daughter to get out here!"

"There's no need to shout sir." Kareha turned and walked off to the kitchen to make the Strawberry Sundie. "Hey Sia, your dad is here and he doesn't sound too happy."

"Yeah he's been like that ever since I left for Paris, according to what I've been told. For now, we just need some time apart...just tell him that I'm on my break."

"Sure Sia."

Once the Sundie was made, Kareha walked out to the dining room area where Eustoma was waiting, impatiently, "here's your Sundie and I'm sorry, but Sia is on her break."

"No she's not, she's just avoiding me, I know she's not on her break. Tell her to get out here now!"

"I'm sorry sir, but if you keep shouting like that, then I'm afraid I'm going have to ask you to leave."

Throughout the rest of his stay, he hardly made a single sound. He finished his Sundie, payed for it and then left, "he seems really upset Sia," Kareha said to her afterwords, "are you sure you don't want to talk to him?"

"I'm sure, like I said, we need some time apart, that's all I have to say for now. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to wash some of the dishes, I'll talk to you two later," she turned and walked over to the sink.

At around six thirty that evening, Naomi and I were heading off back to Lance's house after visiting Marshall in the hospital, "well at least he's recovering quite nicely," I said.

"Yeah he is, although I wish I could just talk to him, it feels like ages since I last heard his voice...how has it been?"

"About three weeks," I answered.

"Huh, I thought it was longer than that, sure felt like it."

"Speaking of Marshall, has any of his family come by to visit?"

"No, none of them have ever come by to visit him. I've asked the doctors and nurses and they say that no one, except us, ever go in to visit him."

"Poor kid."

A few moments later, we arrived at Lance's house, "well I would invite you in Big Bro, but I don't want you to catch Lance's cold and give it to Kaede."

"I understand. It's sweet of you to be thinking of others."

"Yeah well I get that from you Big Bro. Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow, good night."

"Good night Little Sis," I called to her. I stayed for a minute, just to make sure that she got to the house safely, then I headed off for home.

At around nine that evening, after chatting with my friends on the Sodor Island Forums, I sat on the bed next to Kaede just reading that manga book 'Fairy Navigator Runa' Volume 2. Both Kaede and I were enjoying it and like always, she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Hey Kaede..."

"Yeah, what is it Matthew?"

"Have I ever told you how cute you look when you're resting your head on my shoulder?"

"Yes," she nodded, "you tell me that alot."

"Well you know I mean every word Kaede, because you are cute and beautiful." Kaede blushed into a light shade of red. She turned her head to her right and moved in for a kiss on the lips (hey, I know we kiss alot, but so what? If you really love someone, wouldn't you do the same), anyways, our lips were almost ready to connect when we heard some loud shouting.

"I'm telling you, bring Sia back here!"

"And I told you no!"

I groaned unhappily, "excuse me one second Kaede," I said politely. I got out of the bed and walked down the hallway towards the stairs, "oh will you give me just a tiny break?!" I snarled under my breath.

After slipping my feet into my slippers, I walked outside and over to Sia and Kikyou's house. I already knew who was shouting, it was Eustoma and Cineraria. I cleared my throat loudly to get their attention.

"What?!" Eustoma shouted at me.

"Oh nothing, except that some people are sleeping and others are about to go to sleep! Now what is going on out here?"

"Honey, go back inside now!" snapped Cineraria, "we will talk later!" Eustoma huffed angerily and walked back into the house. Cineraria turned her attention towards me, "I am so sorry about that Matthew, my husband's just...well, I'm sure you can guess why he's shouting."

"Yeah I can guess," I sighed, "just tell him to stay quiet tonight, Kaede and I are going to sleep in a few minutes and we do not want to be woken up in the middle of the night again."

"Well I'll be sure to tell him that. Again, I am sorry," she bowed for a moment, then she turned and walked into the house.

The next morning at Dave and Daryl's house, Sia was just getting up after having a good night's rest. This time, she and Dave slept throughout the night, with their clothes on.

"Morning Daryl, what's for breakfast?" Sia asked.

"Bacons, eggs and potatoes," he answered.

Sia sniffed the food, "hmm, smells good. By the way, have you seen Dave anywhere? I woke up and he wasn't sleeping beside me."

"Dave helped me with the cooking and now he's getting cleaned up."

"Didn't he eat anything?"

Before Daryl could say anything, both he and Sia heard the phone ring again. They didn't answer, they just let the machine get it. First came Dave and Daryl's message, then the call came threw, "Sia, I want to talk to you now, you get your butt back over right now or I'll come over there and drag you back here!" And with that, her father hung the phone up.

"Luckily he doesn't know where we are," Sia groaned out loud.

Eustoma had actually been making the call outside his house, so as you can guess, both Daisy and I heard everything, "you know, if you want your daughter to come home, you might to try stop yelling at her," Daisy suggested.

"That girl is in serious trouble right now and I cannot afford to go soft on her," he said firmly, "as soon as she gets here, we're going to have a serious chat."

Daisy looked up to me, "she ain't coming back is she?"

"Nope, she ain't," I sighed, "And where's Monty? Isn't he suppose to be getting ready to go to school?"

"Yeah, he's...ah...he's around here somewhere, I'm going to look for him, be right back," Daisy kicked off her shoes and ran off to find Monty.

I decided to talk with Eustoma, "look, I know it's not really any of my business, but what is your problem? What did Dave ever do to you huh? As far as I know, he's been a pretty darn good boyfriend to Sia."

"You just said it yourself Matthew, 'as far as you know'. I just don't trust this boy."

"Why? Why don't you trust him?"

"I don't know anything about him."

"What's to know? Dave Sutton is a Canadian boy like me, he lives with his brother Daryl Sutton, he works in a computer lab and although he likes to kid around sometimes, he's still a kind person. Now if he was a bad boy, then I would agree that you shouldn't trust him, but he's not a bad boy. Trust me, I know him well, after all he and his brother went to the same school as me."

"You may not know everything about someone Matthew."

"Granted, maybe I don't, but you know your daughter better than anyone else, and now I'm asking you, do you really think your daughter would betray your trust?"

"She's already given me enough reasons not to trust or believe her, after all she and Dave did it once."

"Boy are you ever stubborn. Well until you're ready to listen to your own daughter and stop jumping to conclusions, she's not coming back. So my suggestion to you is that you stop yelling at her, cause she'll continue to fight back if you keep doing that."

As I was turning to leave, Eustoma said something really stupid, "I think she would do better if you were dating her."

I stopped walking and turned back to face him, "I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me. In fact, I think that would be perfect. Maybe I can convince Sia to go out on a date with you."

"Ah sir, have you forgotten? I'm married to Kaede and I am the father of her children?"

"So?"

"So?!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing, "that would mean betraying not only my wife, but my own children too. You know I think you've finally lost it. You're letting your anger consume you into thinking of ways you can control my life and Sia's life too."

"It wouldn't be betrayal if you divorced that girl. I always thought she was a pain in the neck, she doesn't deserve you, Sia does."

At that moment, I heard some crying coming from the doorway. I turned and saw Kaede with tears in her eyes and her lips were quivering, then she turned and ran back into the house.

"Kaede!" I cried.

"You know I bet Sia wouldn't cry in front of you as much as..."

"Don't you dare say another word about my Kaede!" I snapped angerily at him. "You do know that you just insulted my wife, which I love with my heart and soul. I do not take kindly to people insulting her, no matter if they are family, former friends or even a king, who clearly is out of his mind!"

"Okay I can tell you're upset, but I know what will cheer you up..."

"Oh shut your trap! You're just letting that anger of yours consume you and confuse you and now you're losing sight of everything. You know how much I love Kaede and you know how much Sia loves Dave...you know, I can't even help you and Sia sort out this situation, you're going have to handle this one alone! When you finally calm down! And as for insulting Kaede, should I hear one more insulting word about her, then I will teach you a serious lesson!"

With that said, I stormed back into the house. This might've sound similar to what happened with Rin, but this is different, the anger and his trusting issues have blinded him and make him say stupid things and blinding him from the truth. Anyways, I walked back into the house, up the stairs and into our room where I found Kaede.

Boy was she ever crying alot, it took me more than seven minutes to calm her down, but at last she showed a smile to me, especially after hearing, "Kaede, you know I won't leave you, I won't betray you or our family, okay?"

"Okay," she sniffed, but still showing me a smile, "I know you won't do that, it's not who you are."

"That's right," I leaned forward and kissed Kaede on the lips.

Well that really cheered Kaede up, she wiped away her tears, then we walked downstairs side by side, but something inside told me that Sia and Dave were still in for a big fight with Eustoma.


	48. The Truth Behind the Distrusting

This next installment is part 3, once again continuing right where we left off in Chapter 47 'Being Stubborn'. In this chapter, we will finally learn why Eustoma has such a huge distrusting towards Dave. Rating is still rated M for there is a lot of swearing included and this chapter is dedicated to all my friends. Now for anyone who's keeping track of the timeline in this story, the date of this chapter is Tuesday October 25th 2011 and now here's the 48th chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 48: The Truth Behind the Distrusting**_

Eustoma stormed back into his house angerily, "how dare Matthew say that crap to me! I'm a king for crying out loud. The King of the realm of the gods and yet he says that to me!"

"Well maybe Matthew had his reasons," said Cineraria.

"He says if I want to sort out the problem, I should do it myself and he dares say he would never go out with Sia. That boy has got quite a mouth, if we were in the realm of the gods, he would be in big trouble."

"Okay I need to leave you alone for a while," she sighed, "at least till you calm down."

She got up from her seat in the kitchen, then she walked out, leaving her husband to shout and rant angerily.

After work was done for the day, I picked up Naomi from the school and once again took her to the hospital. We stayed for an hour and a half, then we left, "hey Little Sis, would you like to come over for a visit tonight? We really miss having you there."

"Well it depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Is _she _there?"

"As far as I know, I don't think so. Why don't you call Daisy and ask if Primula is at the house, I can't talk on the phone and drive at the same time. It is aganist the law."

"Sure Big Bro."

I handed the cellphone over to Naomi, she dailed the number for Daisy's cellphone and waited. "Hey Daisy, it's me...yeah I'm alright, ah just out of curiousity, is...Primula there? She's not? Okay, well I was just wondering. Yeah, talk to you later, bye." She hung up the phone and gave it back to me, "she's not there."

"Alright then, so what do you say? Do you want to come over for a bit?"

"Sure why not," she smiled, "it'd be good to visit for a while, besides I need to get some things from my room. Plus it'd be nice to see Kaede again."

"Alright then, next stop...the Gagnon/Fuyou House."

After a few minutes, we finally arrived at the house, at the same time that Eustoma was leaving his own house.

"Where's he going?" Naomi asked.

I sighed and shook my head, "knowing him, it's probably anywhere Sia or Dave is. I just don't get him, he starts with distrusting his daughter, then says he doesn't trust Dave and to add on top of all that, he says he wants to convince Sia to go out with me."

"I think his anger and distrusting is blinding his common sense."

"You're not alone there Little Sis, I'm beleiving the same thing. Now let's go inside and say hello to everyone. Little Sis?" I looked over to the passenger seat and noticed that she was gone. She was already running up the pathway to the house, "She could at least wait for me," I thought to myself.

I climbed down from the truck and walked up the pathway to the house. By the time I reached the doorway, I could see Kaede hugging Naomi, "we've really missed Naomi," she said.

"Well I miss you guys too, but I still won't move back in just yet, sorry."

"It's okay, so how's Lance doing?"

"He's getting better, but he asked me not to get anywhere near him. He doesn't want me spreading his nasty germs all over the place and get other people sick...trust be told, I've been feeling a little bored with no one to talk to."

"Don't you talk with the Nakata family?"

"Sometimes, but they're always on the go and going from place to place. Half the time, they don't have time to sit down for a family dinner. Do you guys still do that?"

"Of course we still do that, nothing's changed since the last time you were here Little Sis, you haven't been away that long."

"Yeah but you know how it feels. You're away for a day and it feels like a year. Now, is there anything I can do to help out?"

"Yes there is," Kaede nodded, "you can help us cook up dinner and set up the table."

"Alright, I'm ready to work," she kicked off her shoes and then ran into the kitchen. Less than a minute later, we heard some cluttering coming from the kitchen, "whoops, I slipped and dropped the spoons!" she called, "don't worry though, I'm okay!"

"Same as always," I chuckled, Kaede giggled too as we both walked over to the kitchen.

At Dave and Daryl's computer labs, Dave was just finishing some last minute work, "you still here Dave?" his boss asked, "I thought you'd be on your way home right now."

"Well sir, I have some extra work I wanted to take care of. I'm almost done here then I'll go."

"Alright then, but be careful when you leave."

"Sure sir, have a good night."

"You too Dave." Dave's boss turned around and walked out of the computer lab.

Dave went to work until he was finally finished, "there we go, now I'll just shut down and call it a night." As he was shutting down, he heard someone coming towards the computer lab, "must be the boss, he's probably just forgot something."

But Dave was wrong, it wasn't the boss, "We need to talk!" said a stern sounding voice.

Immediately, Dave spun round and saw that it was Sia's father standing in the doorway, "how did you get in here? Nobody's ever snuck in here, it's a secure place."

"Well you can't say that now," he said firmly, "now I'm going to tell you one last time, stay away from my daughter, she's meant for Matthew!"

"What? Have you lost your mind? Matthew's with Kaede and I will never dump Sia, she loves me and I love her."

"You know nothing of love! Now since you won't listen to me..." within seconds, he produced an orb of light, "I will beat the living shit out of you! Now take this!"

He fired the orb at Dave, luckily he ducked out of the way.

"You know you can kill someone with that kind of power!" Dave shouted.

"Why do you think I'm doing this?! I will not allow you anywhere near Sia ever again. Now hold still!" He fired more orbs at Dave, but kept on missing.

"Why is he doing this? I've never done anything to upset him, so why is he doing this?"

Back at our house, we were halfway finished with making dinner when we heard the doorbell ring, "I'll get it!" we heard Daisy call from the stairwell. Moments later, she came into the kitchen with Cineraria coming in behind her.

"I'm sorry to disturb you all, but I was wondering if you've seen my husband."

"Yeah, we saw him walking away down the street when we arrived," Naomi answered.

"Oh no, if I know him, he's probably on his way to take care of Dave right now."

"Why does your husband have such a huge distrusting towards Dave?" Kaede asked curiously, "Dave hasn't done anything bad to him, and he's never hurt Sia."

"I know, but..." Cineraria stopped and looked down to the floor.

"Cineraria, is there something you're not telling us?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually...yes, there is something I'm not telling you, it's something I should've told Sia and all you guys a while back," she took in a deep breath and told us everything, "the reason my husband has a huge distrusting towards Dave Sutton is because he looks like someone who hurt me a long time ago."

"What?" Naomi and Daisy exclaimed.

"It was when we were teenagers, Eustoma and I had only just started dating after I had broken up with my former boyfriend..." and this is what she told us...

It was a warm summer's evening, Cineraria was walking along on her way to meet her new boyfriend, Eustoma. As she was walking along though, she had the strange feeling that someone was following along behind her, but everytime she looked over her shoulder, there was no one there.

What she didn't know was that her former boyfriend was following her, he didn't like the idea of her being with someone else and wanted payback.

"Not too far now," Cineraria thought to herself, "I'm looking forward to my little date with..."

Before she could think of anything else, she was grabbed and a hand was placed over her mouth, "scream and I will rip you to pieces, do I make myself clear?" he snarled threw his teeth.

Cineraria had no choice, she couldn't get away from him, so she nodded.

"Good, now I'm going to teach you what happens to those who dare break up with me."

He dragged her out of sight, then he started to beat her up and touch her where he shouldn't have. Poor Cineraria wanted to scream out for help, but she knew that she couldn't.

After ten minutes, a smile came across the guy's face, "my lesson is now complete, but before I leave, I want to see your breasts and then I'll squeeze them hard."

He went for the buttons on her blouse, but before he could even undo them, he was pulled away from her and thrown to the ground.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed.

"How dare you touch her you son of a bitch! I'll make you regret your decision!"

Eustoma fired an orb at the guy, which hit him hard and making fly a short distance away. Eustoma was about to hit him again, but then he heard Cineraria groaning in pain. Instead of firing another orb, he ran towards her, "are you okay?" he asked.

"Y..yeah," she answered and spat out a little blood, "I'm alright..." although she was badly hurt.

Eustoma growled angerily, "I'll get you, you son of a..." but when he turned around, he couldn't see the guy anywhere. He was gone, "Dammit! I almost had him!"

"It's alright, he's gone now..." Cineraria groaned, "he won't hurt me now."

"That's right he won't, cause if I ever meet him, no matter what the excuse, I'll tear him to pieces."

"...Hold on a second here," Naomi piped up, "Daryl looks just the same as Dave, but your husband has never gone after Daryl."

"That's because Daryl is not with Sia, he'll only go after the one who is with me, Kikyou or even Sia. I'm afraid that his need for revenage has blinded him to the truth and following what happened before with Sia and Dave, it's now clouded his mind and now he's not thinking clearly."

"So we weren't too far off huh Big Bro?" Naomi asked.

"No we weren't, we were pretty close..." at that moment, I heard my phone ring, "hello? Dave, what's going on? He's doing what? Alright stay put, help's on the way!"

"What's going on?" Kaede asked.

"Sia's dad has gone too far this time, he snuck into Dave's workplace and is now attacking him right now!"

At Dave's workplace, he was tiring to stay out of the way of the firing attacks, but it was becoming hard as Eustoma chased Dave and destorying anything that was protecting him from his attacks.

"Geez, I only make love to Sia once and you go nuts over that!"

"You will pay you slime bucket, you will pay!" and he fired another attack. This time, Dave couldn't get away fast enough. The desk blew into pieces and Dave flew a short distance before landing face first onto the floor.

"Look, whatever you think I've done," he groaned, "I'm sorry okay?"

"Sorry doesn't cut it, you have to pay for what you did."

"But what did I do? Sia and I already apologized to you, we've done nothing else wrong!" he wasn't going to mention that he and Sia made out again, he thought it might get him into more trouble.

"I've heard enough out of you! Now I'll finish you off for good!"

"Dad! Stop!" shouted another voice.

Sia ran into the shops and stood in between Dave and her father, "I don't know why you're doing this, as Dave said we already apologized and I'll say it again if I have to, just stop attacking him!"

"Stand aside Sia, he must pay!"

"But why? What has Dave done to you?" Her father said nothing, he just walked forward. Sia stood her ground, "if you want him, you're going have to go threw me first! Come on, attack me! I dare you!"

"He will pay!" He produced another orb.

Sia gulped, "Sorry Dave."

"It's alright Sia, there's no need to say sorry, you tried your best."

At this time, we had just arrived at the computer labs. We tried to get in, but the doors were locked, "stand back Matthew!" said Damon, "Boys! Bring in the battering ram!"

"Make it snappy! We don't know how much longer Dave can last aganist him!" I added.

On the way to the labs, Kaede made a call to Damon and the police department and now they were helping us get inside the building. Using the battering ram, they were able to break down the doors and I ran in, hoping that I'd get there in time.

I ran threw the hallways and found Eustoma about to fire an attack at Dave...and Sia!

"Sia! Dave! Get down!" I shouted. They didn't need telling twice, they ducked for cover while I pointed the sword at Eustoma, "I'm really sorry that I have to do this, but you asked for it..." my sword started glowing and lightning surronded it, "now, Blue Lightning Strike!" I fired my attack right at Eustoma, which hit him, threw him a good distance and fly till he hit the floor just before the wall.

"Sia! Dave!" we heard Kaede call as she, Cineraria and the police department run into the room, "are you two okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine, thanks to Matthew," she turned to me, "you saved us again."

"How did you get in here Sia?" Damon asked, "the doors were all locked when we tried to get in here."

"I came in threw an open window in an office, someone left it open and luckily they did, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get in here and protect Dave..." she looked over to her father, who was now out cold, "how's my dad?"

"He's alright," said one of the other officers, "he's just out cold for now."

Kaede called for an ambulance and soon we were all in the hospital, because of Dave's minor injuries, the doctors asked him if he wanted to be looked over, "it's okay, I'm alright, these scars look worse than they actually are."

While Dave was talking with the doctors, we told Sia of why her father was attacking Dave.

"So that's why he's been trying to split me and Dave up," she said after a while, "his act of revenage has blinded him to the truth, but surely Dave doesn't look excatly like that guy."

"Actually he does," said Cineraria, "same hair style, same hair color and his voice almost sounds like that guy that attacked me."

"Unbelievable," Sia muttered quietly.

A doctor came out of the emergency room, "which one of you lads is Matthew Gagnon?"

"That would be me," I said, "why do you ask?"

"Well, it's because he was asking for you, from what he said, you attacked him and that's why he was knocked out cold. He wants to have a chat with you, Mr. Dave Sutton and his daughter Sia."

"Thanks doctor, we'll go in and talk with him right now," said Sia.

Sia walked into the emergency room first, Dave followed, then her mother and finally Kaede, Naomi, Daisy and I followed them in (oh and for the record, we had turned off the stove before we left the house and took all pots and pans off of it).

Eustoma didn't look too happy, he looked at me angerily, "you had no right to attack me," he said.

"Well when you're about to attack two good friends of ours, then yeah I had every right to attack you."

"Dad, we need to talk...actually, you listen this time and we talk," Sia said firmly. Eustoma went quiet, "I now know the story of that guy attacking mom when you two were teenagers and she also told me how he looked so much like Dave, but I want to make it clear that Dave is _not_ the guy that attacked mom years ago."

"I can guarantee that sir," said Dave, "I'm only twenty years, same as my brother Daryl and besides, the only time I've ever been to the realm of the gods was turning that big trip we took back in 2010."

"In simple terms dad, you've been attacking the wrong person," said Sia.

"No, no I..."

"You let your emotions get the better of you," I interupted this time, "wanting revenage blinded everything, so you never knew that Sia was telling you the truth the entire time and it made you believe that Dave was the man you were going after."

"It's true honey," said Cineraria as she stepped into the room, I stepped back until I was standing near the doorway with Kaede, "besides Dave looks young..."

"Just like the person that attacked you."

"Yes, but that was over twenty years ago, he would look so different now. There's no way he would look the same, he would look older like us."

For a minute, there was silence in the entire room, Eustoma was thinking over everything.

"There you are!" snapped another voice, which sounded like Sia's voice. It was Kikyou, she marched into the room with a firm look, "you're in big trouble this time missy! I went by Dave and Daryl's house and I found out that you guys made love again!"

"How the heck did you find out?" Sia gasped in shock.

"I have my ways, plus I found several pieces of your clothing on the floor under your bed. Now dump Dave and let me have him!"

"That's enough Kikyou!" this time it came from Sia's dad. He looked over to Sia, "is it true that you and Dave made out again?"

"Ah...yeah, I just wanted to be with him again, but for the record, this is only the second time we've done it, we haven't done it since that day. I promise you that I am telling you the truth."

"Oh yeah right," sniffed Kikyou, but went quiet when she saw the firm looks on all of our faces.

"It's alright Sia, but please do me a favour and wait till you and Dave are married."

Sia gasped again, "you mean, I can still go out with Dave?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "I...I have to say that you are probably...no, definetly right. I've always wanted to get back at the guy who attacked my little sugar pump when we were teenagers and when I saw Dave with you, I thought that he was that person, about ready to hurt my little girl," he then turned to me, "and the reason I said you should be with Sia is because you are a trustworthy person and I know you would never hurt her."

"True, but don't forget that I am married to Kaede and I'm not giving up my marriage to her."

"Yes I understand that now. I'm sorry Matthew and I'm sorry to both Sia and Dave, I hope you can forgive an old foolish man like me. I also promise that I will never try to seperate you two ever again."

"But...but..." Kikyou was saying in shock.

"Of course we can forgive you daddy," smiled Sia, "there's no point in holding a grudge aganist someone forever." Dave nodded in agreement and so did I.

"Thank you," he smiled.

The Doctor came back into the room, "well there are no serious injuries, so you can go home."

"Thank you doctor," then Eustoma turned his attention back over towards me, "and I except your apology Matthew."

"What? I haven't gotten the chance to say it yet," I gasped.

"Yes you did, you said it before you attacked me. Anyways, I forgive you, just don't do it again unless I'm...out of my mind again, which hopefully won't happen again."

"Okay, I promise," I smiled.

"Good, and now let's go home."

"Does that include me daddy?" Sia asked.

Kikyou shook her head angerily, but Eustoma just smiled, "yes, you can come home and Dave is more than welcome to come in anytime he wants."

Thanks to Damon giving some of us a ride in his police car, we returned back to our houses, after we made a trip back to Dave and Daryl's house to get Sia's stuff, "now once we're inside, I want you to tell me all about Paris," said Eustoma, "I haven't been to that city in years."

"Sure daddy, then you can tell me about your visit, deal?"

"Deal," he nodded, "Dave, you can join us too!"

"Thanks sir," he smiled and followed them into the house.

Kikyou was at a loss of words, "I was sure that dad would seperate them and Dave would finally be mine!"

"Then you would've had the same troubles as Sia did," I said, "you would've had to knock some sense into him before he could let you date Dave, which you won't."

"Sia's with him now," added Naomi.

Kikyou was stunned, but then huffed and walked off to the house.

"Well that's one bitter rivalry brought to a stop," said Naomi.

"Only one more to go," I added. Naomi looked up to me as looked down at her, "you know what I'm talking about Little Sis."

"I'll talk to _her_...when I feel like it, now let's get back to cooking."

I only sighed and followed everyone back into the house. Whilst one problem has been sorted out, another one was still going strong and left us wondering of when our sisters would finally talk to each other. Guess the wait is still on.


	49. Michael, Sakura & Rose

And now after a long period of time, Michael, Sakura and Little Rose return to the City of Tokyo after spending at least three weeks in New York City. Truth be told, the reason those three didn't return sooner was because I had completely forgotten just how long they were to be away, until around the time I was working on Episode 46 'They're Back!' when I looked back on several of the previous chapters and it showed just how long I had originally planned to have them away, so in Episode 46, I decide to give them a little extra time to spend in New York, at least till I had completed the Sia and Dave triple package. Please note that this chapter's rating is still M for a little swearing and also for a cute moment mentioned later on. Also, before we begin, I would like to say that I'm dedicating this chapter to all my friends, especially to my bro, Mike11208. Now that's enough chatter from me for now, here's the 49th chapter of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 49: Michael, Sakura & Rose**_

After taking Naomi back to Lance's house and helping to clean up the dishes, pots and pans, Kaede and I went upstairs to get changed into our pajamas, "quite a day don't you think Kaede?"

"Yeah it was," she nodded, "although, what Sia's dad said about me before..."

"You know he didn't mean it, he wasn't thinking clearly at that time. Remember, he did apologize for what he said this morning. I'm sure he can agree with me that you you are a beautiful, sweet, cute and wonderful girl."

"Oh Matthew," Kaede smiled.

After getting changed into my pajamas, I went onto the internet and logged onto the Sodor Island Forums to tell my friends all about what's been going on lately, "Well that explains my questions of why he was acting like that," said Metamorphical's message.

"I was actually stomped about why he would act like that, but I never imagined it would be anything like what you told us," said Warrior's message, "Still, glad to know that everything's back to normal for you guys...well, except for Kikyou. Knowing her, she's going to try to cause trouble for Sia and Dave."

"Well if she does, she'll have to deal with her father," I replied back.

"Guess that's true," he replied back, "hey Matthew, can you do us a little favor? Tell Sia and Dave that we said 'welcome back'."

"I will."

After chatting with them, I posted a new video in my production's thread (I've been working on it for a few weeks), then I logged off and shut down my computer. I got up from the chair and walked over to the bed, then I layed down next to Kaede.

"Feeling tired Kaede?"

"No, not yet," she answered, "could we read one of your manga books?"

"Sure Kaede, just give me a second here to look threw the books I have," I got up from the bed and looked at the small collection of manga books, "any requests?"

"Nope, any book will do, as long as we can read it together."

"Alright then...hmm," I looked threw my small collection of books until..."how about Cardcaptor Sakura? Would that be okay?"

"Yep, that'd be okay. I haven't read that story in a long time."

"Me neither, granted I don't have all the books so I don't know the entire story, just yet," I pulled out the first volume book and walked back over to the bed, but before I could lay down, we heard my cellphone ringing.

"Who'd be calling this late in the evening?"

"I don't know, I just hope nobody's gotten into trouble again." I gave Kaede the first volume book of Cardcaptor Sakura, then I walked over to the computer desk and picked up my cellphone, "hello, this is Matthew Gagnon speaking. Hey bro, what's up? Huh? Go out to the balcony and look? Why? Sure, I'll look."

I walked over to the sliding glass door and slid it to one side, "okay now what? Look down? Alright...uh, hold on one second. Kaede, you might want to come out here."

She didn't need telling twice, she got up from the bed and walked out to the balcony, then she looked down and gasped.

"Yo bro! Kaede! We're back!" shouted a familar voice, it was Michael, along with Sakura and young Rose standing beside him, "sorry to distrub you this late in the evening..."

"But we were just too excited to wait till tomorrow to speak with you guys!" shouted Sakura.

"We're home!" shouted Rose.

"Can we talk for a bit?!" Michael shouted to us.

"Of course we can talk for a bit, just give us a minute and we'll meet you downstairs!" I called down to them.

After getting our housecoats on, Kaede and I walked quietly threw the quiet hallways, down the stairwell and unlocked the siding door to let our friends in. Soon, all five of us were gathered in the kitchen and talking, "so how was New York?" I asked.

"It was great," Sakura answered, "we saw a lot of interesting places and we learned alot about the city, although I wish Michael's brothers could have at least tonned down their lanauage, especially when Rose was with us."

"Hey I tried, but you know them, sometimes they can't help themselves."

"It's alright Michael," said Rose, "I used to hear that kind of talk alot when we lived in the United States."

"Yes and I would ask that person to please not swear," added Sakura, "but anyways, we did have a good time and the reason we stayed longer was because we wanted to visit the other cities in the New York area and while we were there, we met up with some old friends of ours."

"Like Destiny and Jessica," Michael muttered.

"Yeah we ran into Destiny shortly after we arrived in New York. Michael got a little emotional, but after a moment or so, he was talking to Destiny like they were old childhood friends."

"True that," nodded Michael, "we also got plenty of pictures of our trip, but you guys will have to wait till probably tomorrow night to see them."

"That's alright Michael," said Kaede, "we don't mind waiting, we're just glad to see you guys home."

"Well it's good to be home," smiled Sakura. "We weren't actually suppose to be back until tomorrow evening, but Michael got us an earlier flight home and so we took it and we decided to come by to see you guys before going home."

"Just out of curiousty here," I piped up, "where did you guys stay while you were in New York? I know hotels are expensive to stay at."

"We stayed with Michael's family, quite nice really and they gave us a great welcome when we arrived." At that moment, we heard a little yawn, it was coming from Rose, "oh, looks like somebody's getting tired."

"Sorry," Rose apologized.

"It's alright Rose, it has been a long day, I guess we should get going. I know I'm in for a long walk home..."

"Not tonight Michael, why don't you come stay over with us for the evening, then I'll help you bring back your stuff to your house in the morning."

"Alright, sounds good to me. Sorry we're cutting this visit short bro and Kaede, but maybe we can meet up again tomorrow night and you can tell us of what's been going on since we left."

"Sure, we can do that cause there's a lot to tell you guys."

"Alright then, we'll see you two tomorrow."

"Nighty-night," Rose said in a cute way before letting out another yawn. Sakura picked her up till she was carrying her baby sister, then the three of them walked out of the room, down the short hallway to the door and down the pathway towards the street.

"And now the whole gang is back together," I smiled, "now, let's get upstairs and read that book together."

"Sure," Kaede smiled and before she could say anything else, I had lifted her up, bridal style, then I carried her up the stairs back to our room.

At Sakura's house, her parents were just about ready to go to bed when they heard their doorbell ring. Slightly confused, they walked over to the front door to see who it was. The moment they opened the door, they gasped, "hey mom and dad, we're back."

"Sakura! Rose!" her mother cried and ran up to hug her two little girls.

"Hey mommy, we're home," Rose said sweetly.

"I thought you guys weren't going to come back until tomorrow evening," added Mr. Yae.

"Well that's what we originally thought too," said Sakura, "But Michael got us tickets for an earlier flight and...well, here we are. Speaking of Michael though, it's really late and..."

"Say no more Sakura," said Mrs. Yae, "Michael's more than welcome to stay here with us for the night."

"Oh thank you mom, but how did you know..."

"It just comes from being a mother, we're suppose to know everything, including what you're thinking," she said a small giggle, "besides, it's better if he stays here overnight considering how far his house." Her father nodded in agreement to what his wife just said.

"Thank you Mom, and you too Dad."

Both Michael and Sakura brought in the suitcases, Rose helped too, but she was tired and wanted to go to sleep, "why don't you just go to bed Rose," Sakura said sweetly to her baby sister, "it's been a long day. Michael and I will bring in the rest of the suitcases."

"Okay, good night sis, good night Michael," she yawned again before turning on her heel and walking up the stairwell to her room.

"We're going to turn in as well," said Mrs. Yae, "Michael; it's up to you of where you want to sleep. Anwyays, we'll see you two in the moring."

"Good night pumpkin," Mr. Yae said to his daughter.

"Night dad, night mom," Sakura called to her parents and watched as they walked up the stairwell to their room. Once they were upstairs, she helped Michael bring in the last of their suitcases, "oh boy it's been a long day, I'm just ready to crash onto my bed."

"Damn girl, it's like you're reading my mind, but...where am I going to sleep?"

"Need you ask Michael? You can sleep with me in my room for the night, my bed is quite big enough for the two of us...that is, if you want to sleep with me."

"Well sure Sakura, I'd be happy to sleep with you tonight."

"Okay then, just follow me."

And that's just what Michael did, he followed Sakura up the stairwell to her room. He only brought up the suitcase with his clothes, the rest of his suitcases were going to stay downstairs until the next morning.

Sakura turned the door handle and pushed her door open, then she walked in, followed by Michael, "well Michael, this is my room, what do you think?"

Sakura's entire room was a light blue room with a few movie posters on the wall, there was a dream catcher hanging from the ceiling, also in the room was a small cabinet for all of Sakura's clothes with a small Television/VHS player sitting on it and with a small mirror sitting behind it. Also in the room was a big bed that looked like it was made for three people to sleep in.

"Holy mother of God, that's a big frickin bed, you weren't kidding. And in answer to your question, it's a very nice room Sakura."

"Well I'm glad you like it, it's an okay room. Now why don't you make yourself comfortable, I'm going to check on Rose." That being said, Sakura walked out of her room and over to her baby sister's room. She pushed the door slowly and peered in, only to see her baby sister sleeping on her bed and with all her stuffed toys surronding her.

Rose's little bedroom had almost everything Sakura's room had, except that she didn't have a television in her room and she had over a dozen stuffed animals on her bed.

"Sweet dreams Rose," Sakura whispered quietly.

She was about to walk away when she heard Rose say "Nighty-night Sis."

Sakura looked back into the room and saw that Rose was still sleeping, "she must've been talking in her sleep again," Sakura thought to herself, "just like she's always been doing." Sakura walked into the bedroom, grabbed one end of the blanket, then placed it over her baby sister to keep her warm. Before walking out, Sakura noticed that Rose's light blue teddy bear was on the floor and she was reaching out for it, "hold on sis, I'll get it for you."

She picked up the light blue teddy bear and placed it next to her baby sister's pillow. At last, Rose grabbed it and held it close to her.

"Thank you," she said while still sleeping.

"You're welcome Sis," Sakura whispered softly, then leaned in and gave her baby sister a kiss on her forehead, "I love you," with that said, Sakura got to her feet and walked off back to her room where Michael was waiting. "Rose is asleep and she's surronded by all her stuffed animals."

"How many stuffed animals does she have?" he asked. Sakura walked up towards him and whispered the number into his left ear, "seriously?" Sakura nodded her head, "I repeat, Holy Mother of God!"

"Well that's my baby sister, she loves stuffed toys and will collect as many as she can get her little hands on..." Sakura let out a big yawn at that moment, "oh geez, I'm tired too, I don't think I have the energy to get changed into my pajamas."

"Yeah ya know something, I feel the same way," Michael said before he let out a big yawn, "oh excuse me."

"Hey Michael," Sakura said as her cheeks started blushing into a small shade of red, "would it be okay if we slept...naked again tonight?" Michael looked over to her surprised, "it's up to you though."

"Sakura, It's alright with me, we can sleep naked together again...as long as it's okay with you." Sakura nodded her head.

With that confirmed, Sakura locked the door and closed the curtains, then she and Michael starting taking off their clothes. Sakura looked over towards Michael as he took off his pants, "you're blushing Michael," she teased.

"I'm not alone, you're blushing too," he chuckled, "And I have to say that you are cute when you blush."

"Oh well...thanks Michael."

Within minutes, the two of them were naked and were now ready for bed. Sakura climbed onto her bed first, then Michael climbed onto the bed and layed down next to her. The two stared into each other's eyes, then leaned in closely to kiss each other on the lips, but they never connected for they were so tired that they fell asleep with their faces inches apart from their lover's face.

Rose was the first one up in the morning, she awoke to find her teddy bear sitting next to her, "thank you Sakura," she smiled. She got up from her bed and walked down the hallway to her parent's room. Both Mr. and Mrs. Yae were still sleeping when she came in, "mommy," she whispered and nudged her right shoulder, "mommy."

Her mother opened her eyes and looked down to see young Rose, "good morning sweetie, did you sleep well last night?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "I missed being here."

"Well we missed having you and Sakura here, it's good to have you all home again. Now tell me, are you hungry sweetie?"

"Yes," she answered sweetly.

"Okay, just give me a few minutes and I'll go downstairs to get started on breakfast. In the meantime, why don't you go get your sister up? We don't want her to be late for work today."

"Sure mommy," and so Rose turned and ran out of her parent's bedroom and down the hallway to Sakura' room. She knocked on the door a few times and waited for a response.

"Yeah?" she heard Sakura call out.

"It's me Sakura! Mommy's going to make breakfast and she asked me to wake you up! You don't want to be late for work, right?"

"Uh...yeah I don't want to be late for work," she said with a sleepy tone in her voice, "thanks for waking me up Rose, I'll be out in the few minutes!"

"Okay, I'll let Mommy know!" Rose turned and ran to meet up with her mother, who was now just walking out of the bedroom with a housecoat on, "I told her and she's going to get up!"

"Alright then, let's go downstairs, Daddy will be joining us in a bit."

"Okay," Rose grabbed onto her mother's left hand, then the two of them walked off down the stairwell.

"Hey Michael," Sakura whispered to him, "Michael. It's time to get up, come on," she nudged his shoulder a few more times, but he wouldn't wake up, "wow, you must be really tired. I can't blame you," she nudged his shoulder a few more times, but still Michael kept on sleeping. Sakura sighed, "guess I'll have to bring out my naughty side," she thought. She leaned down and whispered something in a sexy voice into Michael's left ear, "wake up Michael, I got a little surprise for you."

That did the trick, Michael's eyes opened up and he looked up to Sakura, "damn it's been a long time since I've seen or heard your naughty side...I like that side of you too."

"Oh Michael," she chuckled and punched him lightly on the right shoulder, "hey Michael, just out of curiousity, did we kiss last night?"

"Uh..." Michael thought back to what they did last night, "no we didn't. I remember, we were going to kiss, but I don't think we did. We must've been too tired to..." he was cut off as he felt Sakura's lips touching his and with their tounges swirling around each other.

They kissed with a lot of passion for two minutes before their lips seperated with a trail of silvia falling in between them.

"...Kiss," Michael continued where he had left off.

"Surprise," Sakura said with a cheeky giggle. Michael chuckled a bit too and then leaned in to kiss Sakura on the forehead.

"Sakura!" they heard her father call, "are you up?"

"Yeah dad, I'm up!" she called back to him, "tell mom I'll be downstairs in a while, I'm just going to take a shower!"

"Sure sweetie!" her father called back to her before walking away.

"Well I'll let you spend some quality time with your family Sakura, I'll just get changed and go back to my place..."

"Hold your horses Michael," Sakura grabbed onto his right arm to prevent him from getting up from the bed, "I would like you to join us for breakfast, please..." she asked with begging eyes.

"Okay Sakura, I'll stay here with you."

"Great," Sakura smiled. She grabbed a nearby blanket and wrapped it around herself, "well I'm off to take a shower...care to join me Michael? It's enterily up to you."

"Are ya sure that you want me to join you Sakura?"

"Yeah, yeah I do want you to join me. Since I've gotten to you know Michael, you've given me no reasons to not trust you, you never hurt me and you're always there for me when I need you. I trust you and I love you Michael," she said this with a serious tone in her voice.

"Well in that case, I'll join you, but what will you say to your parents afterwords?"

"Simple, I'll just tell them I went in first, then you went in after I was done and you never saw me," she said with a wink, "now come on!"

"Coming!" he called to her. Once he had his pants on, he followed Sakura down the hallway to the washroom. Once they were in the washroom, Sakura started up the shower and before stepping in, she removed her ribbons, letting her pony tails fall to their sides. Michael just stared at his girlfriend before following her into the shower.

"Just right," smiled Sakura, "not too hot and too cold, it's just right. Hey Michael, would you mind washing my hair?"

"Sure Sakura," he said. He grabbed the bottle of hair shampoo, poured some of it onto the top of Sakura's head, then very carefully, he rubbed the soap onto every strand of hair. All the while, being careful not to get any soap in her eyes. "There you go Sakura," he said after a while, "did any of that soap get into your eyes?"

"Nope, not a single drop," she said while blushing a bright shade of red.

Next was Michael's turn, Sakura washed his hair and like her caring boyfriend, she made sure that she didn't get any soap in his eyes. Once she was done there, they washed the backs of their lovers before washing themselves.

After they were done and had gotten changed, Sakura went downstairs first to greet her mother, father and Rose. Michael followed five minutes later, "good morning Michael," said Mrs. Yae, "did you sleep well last night?"

"I did," he nodded, "thank you for letting me stay here overnight."

"It was our pleasure Michael, now come sit down, breakfast is ready."

"Music to my ears," he smiled as he took a seat in between Sakura and Rose, Sakura chuckled a little bit when she heard her boyfriend say that.

Breakfast that morning was French Toast with sasuages and a small side order of potatoes. While they ate, Michael, Sakura and Rose told off some of the stories about their trip in New York until there was hardly anything left on their plates.

"Oh man, breakfast was delicous," Michael said after he finished eating, "Thank you for making it," both he and Sakura said in unison.

"You're welcome," Mrs. Yae smiled, "I'm glad you liked breakfast."

To show his thanks, Michael stayed for a bit, helping to clean up the dishes, pots and pans until they were completely spotless. Soon the work was done and it was time for Michael to go back to his house.

"Well Michael, I had a lot of fun hanging with you in New York, I hope we can do this again someday."

"Yeah me too Sakura," he smiled, "oh and don't worry about my suitcases, I can take them back to my place alone. I don't want you to be late for work just because of me."

"Okay, well if you're sure," Michael nodded to assure Sakura that he was sure.

"Rose had fun too," the cheerful little voice chirped up.

"Well I'm glad you had fun too Rose, I'm only sorry my brothers cursed in front of you.

"That's okay Michael."

Michael smiled at Rose before he turned his attention back to Sakura, "well anyways, thanks again for letting me stay for the night and for coming along with me."

"You're welcome Michael and _thank you_ for inviting us," Sakura started blushing again, then she leaned forwards and kissed Michael on the lips. They kissed for a minute and a half before their lips seperated, "I love you Michael."

"I love you too Sakura and if you ever need me, just call me."

"You got it, see you later."

"See ya!" And with that, Michael picked up his suitcases and walked out of the Yae's house.

A little later, at the 'Tech Corner' building, I was talking with Al about Sia and Dave's ordeal the day before, "wow!" he said, "that's...quite a shocker, no pun intended of course."

"Of course," I nodded, then I looked over to the doorway and saw a familar figure wearing pink walking in.

"Matthew? What are you looking at?"

"Not what, but who. A friend of ours has returned, can you guess who?"

"Ah..." but before Al could even say a single word, he felt a tap on his left shoulder. He spun round and who should he see, but Sakura Yae herself, "Sakura! You're back!"

"Yeah I'm back and, I know you guys probably heard this hundreds of times already, but it feels good to be home again and to be back at work too. So what are we doing this week?"

"It's hobby week this week," I answered, "today we're going to be showing viewers about making model cars and racing cars operated by remote controls..." A smile appeared on my face, "hey Sakura, instead of going behind the cameras like you usually do, why don't you..." And I whispered into her right ear.

"Sure Matthew," she nodded, "I'll wait for your signal."

Within minutes, our show was on, "hello everybody and welcome to another episode of 'Tech Corner', I am your host Matthew Gagnon and you all know my assitant Al."

"As you know, this week we're talking about different hobbies, yesterday was model boats and today, we're talking about model cars."

"That's right, but before we begin, we have a little surprise for the audiance. For three weeks, our producer has been away in New York City with her boyfriend Michael and her baby sister Rose and now after what seems like a long time, I would like everyone to please welcome back a good friend of ours...Ms. Sakura Yae!"

The lights on the stage moved to point at the doorway we usually go threw to come onto the set, this was the signal she was waiting for. She stepped threw the enterance and joined us on the set. The audience was clapping and cheering for her as she walked up.

"Hi everybody, it's good to be back! I had a wonderful time in New York City and now I'm looking forward to getting back to work."

"Well it's good to have you back Sakura," said Al, then he turned to the audience, "am I right folks?" Everyone happily agreed and started clapping and cheering and some even shouted, 'welcome back!'

"And today, Sakura will be helping us today," I added, "so now, let's begin."

"Right behind you Matthew," Al and Sakura said in unison. I just smiled at them as before turning to the workbench. Now I'm happy that almost all the gang is back together again and it feels good too, cause I really missed those guys.


	50. Babysitting Yoshida

Well after a long period of time, we're finally gotten to the 50th chapter of Our Kinda Life. In this chapter, we get to see another long awaited return of a couple of characters, Al's wife 'Sana' and their little girl 'Yoshida', I like to say more, but then I'd be revealing everything about this chapter. To date, this is one of the cutest chapters I've ever written up and I hope to do more chapters like this one in the future. Now for anyone who's keeping track of the dates in this story, this chapter's date is Wednesday October 26th 2011, continuing where we left off in the previous chapter. Anyhow, that's enough chatter from me for now, here's the grand 50th episode of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 50: Babysitting Yoshida**_

After the show was done for the day, Al, Sakura and I stayed to clean up the set just like we always do and get it ready for the next day's show, "Well that was a good show," Sakura was saying, "it feels good to be working again, oh and thanks for letting me come onto the set with you guys."

"Well I figured that we should welcome you back in grand style," I said.

"Well you definetly did that and I'm pretty sure everybody knows that I'm back now. Anyways, as long as we're talking, I've been meaning to ask you, has Kaede felt any kicking yet?"

"Nope, not yet."

"She's coming up to four months being pregnant am I right?"

"Yep, you're right, she'll be four months pregnant at the end of the month, she'll probably feel some kicking at that time."

"You're really looking forward to this aren't you?"

"Oh yeah, to be a dad to a child or to children..." I sighed happily.

"Speaking of children," Al piped up, "I was wondering if I could ask you for a favour Matthew. You see, Sana and I are going to be away for an entire evening...it's going to be our anniversary tomorrow and well..."

"Say no more Al, I understand, but I'll have to check with Kaede."

"But I haven't even said..."

"I just know," I said with a sly grin, "you would like both Kaede and I to babysit Yoshida for the entire evening, am I right?" Al nodded his head, but was still surprised that I knew what he was going to say. "Well like I said, I'll check with Kaede, then we'll inform you and Sana later tonight."

"Alright then, we'll be waiting for your call."

After our work was done, we all went back to our places and like always, Kaede greeted me the moment I walked in, "welcome home dear," she said sweetly, "that was a great show you did today."

"Thanks Kaede, but I can't take all the credit, Al and Sakura were a big help too. So how was your day honey?"

"It was good, I got some more housework done and dad left a few minutes ago, you just missed him."

"Ah shoot, I wanted to wish him good luck for his next trip," I groaned. "Now before I forget, Al and Sana have a little favour to ask of us."

"What is it?"

"Well, both Sana and Al are going away for the entire evening tomorrow night cause it's their anniversary and they're wondering if you and I could look after Yoshida till they get back, what do you say?"

"Well..." Kaede thought about it, for less than a second, "of course we can look after her, it'll be great fun."

"Alright then, I'll call Al and let him know...actually, why don't we tell him together?"

"Okay," she nodded.

I first dailed the number for Al's house, then turned on the speaker so that Kaede and I could hear them and speak to them together. It rang a few times before we heard someone pick up the phone, "hello?" it was Sana on the other end.

"Hi Sana, it's Matthew and Kaede," I said.

"Oh hey there, it's good to hear from you two again...gosh it feels like forever since we last spoke," (do you ever get the feeling of Deja Vu? Well, I am at this moment).

"Yeah it has," Kaede nodded, "is Al there?"

"Ah no he's not, but I'm sure he'll be coming in any minute...while we wait though, um...I was wondering if I could ask you two a little favour..."

"We know," I said this time, "your husband asked me that question earlier today as we were cleaning up. I talked with Kaede about it and..."

"We would be more than happy to look after Yoshida for you two tomorrow night."

"Oh thank you very much, that's real of sweet..." at that moment, we heard a door open, followed by some footsteps, "it's Matthew and Kaede on the phone and they've said 'yes', they'll look after Yoshida," Sana said to her husband.

"Thanks you two, we really appreciate you doing this for us."

"You know us, we're always glad to help."

I looked over to Kaede, "are you reading my mind Kaede, cause that's just what I was going to say," Kaede just giggled when she heard me say that. I then asked, "so, what time does our shift start?"

"Right after work," Al answered, "Sana will bring Yoshida by after work, along with a few of her things she'll need for the night."

"Alright then, guess I'll see you two and Yoshida tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow Matthew and thank you again, both of you."

With that said, Al hung up the phone, just as Daisy came in with Monty, "hey Matt, hey Kaede, who were you talking to?"

"Al and Sana, they're going away for an anniversary tomorrow night and they would like us to look after Yoshida. She'll be here all night tomorrow and into the next morning on Friday, so Monty...watch that mouth of yours."

"Matthew, have you forgotten that Max and I have a baby sister? When we're around kids, we never swear...we know they can hear us and the last thing we need is for them to pick this stuff up."

"Still I think it's a good idea," said Daisy, "not only will you be doing Al and Sana a favour, but it might give you two a chance to see what it'll be like to be parents."

"You know I never thought of it like that, it will be good practice, I just hope I don't mess up."

"You won't mess up," Kaede said kindly.

"What makes you think that you'll mess up?" Daisy asked curiously.

"My dad," I answered, "if you remember what I told you, my dad and I never got along that well when I was a kid, he was always mean to me...and that's the best way I can describe...I'm just worried that the old pharse will true for me, 'Like Father, Like Son'."

"Okay I get it now, you're worried that you'll be nasty to your kids just like your dad was to you."

"You guessed right Daisy," I sighed unhappily.

"You don't need to worry Matthew," said Kaede, "you'll be a great father to our children. Being nasty is not who you are, you're always so kind to people and that's how I know you'll be a wonderful dad."

"Well if you're sure, then so am I...thanks Kaede, my love."

Kaede blushed again when she heard me say that, "yep, I sense a hugging moment coming up," Monty said cheekily.

"Come on Monty, let's leave them alone for a bit," Daisy said while grabbing his left hand, "besides, we got homework and need I remind you that someone forgot to their homework last night."

"Hey I forgot," he said.

Monty was right about us hugging, cause the moment he and Daisy were upstairs, Kaede and I did hug, "thanks Kaede, you always know what to say to make my worries go away."

"Yeah, just like you know how to make my worries go away," she said sweetly.

I showed Kaede a small smile and kissed her on the cheek, then after our kiss, we walked over to the living room to relax.

The following next afternoon, Sakura, Al and I had finished another show, (today was all about model planes) and now we were cleaning up. As we did so, Sana arrived along with her baby girl Yoshida. Today, little Yoshida was wearing a light blue one piece dress and had two pony tails like her mothers, and had little brown shoes on. Just in case any of you are wondering, Yoshida is one year and four months old.

"Hi Matthew," Sana said as she and Yoshida walked up, "I want to thank you again for doing this."

"Hey we're always glad to help, so is there anything I need to know?"

"Yeah, Yoshida has a little bit of an allergic towards peanuts, so don't give her that stuff and she must have her milk before she goes to bed at eight P.M."

"Alright and does she have occassional naps?"

"She does, but she already had hers from one till two thirty, usually I let her sleep for two hours, but no longer than that. If she stays up any longer than that, then she'll stay up for quite a while in the evening. Now in the bag here..." she held out a small bag to me, "is her favourite teddy bear and her 'ducky' pillow and her blankie, there's also a list of some of the foods she can eat."

"Okay...now I have one more question, does she talk?"

"Nope, not yet, she can walk, but she can't talk, I'm sure she will someday." I excepted the bag from Sana, then while I was taking it to my Chevy Blazer, Sana spoke to her little girl, "now you be a good girl for Mr and Mrs. Gagnon and have fun tonight, we'll come by to pick you up tomorrow morning. We love you sweetie." Yoshida walked up to her mother and gave her a hug.

When I returned, I saw Al hugging his little girl and giving her a little kiss, "how adorable," I thought to myself, "I hope I have that kinda relationship with my kids," I was still a little worried about how I would act in front of my kids once they're born.

"Hey Matthew!" Sakura called to me, "can you give me a hand with some of these planes? They're really heavy!"

"Sure Sakura," I called to her and walked over to help her carry one of the bigger model planes off the set.

It took more than a few minutes, but at last, the set was finally clear of all the model planes. Sakura said good night, then headed off for home. Before Al and Sana left, they had one more thing to hand over to me, the child seat Yoshida sits in. Al took it out of his car and handed it to me, "do you know how to install these things Matthew?"

"Yeah I know how to install them, Kaede and I took a few classes of how to install the child seats."

After handing the seat over to me, I walked over to my truck and installed it into the back seat, remembering everything I had been told. When I was done, Al checked to make sure it was safe, "that's perfect," he said, "alright Matthew, you take good care of my little girl and I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow Al and have a good time tonight."

"Thanks Matthew." He walked over to his little girl and gave her a little kiss on her forehead and after whispering 'I love you' to her, he got into his car where Sana was waiting, then they drove away.

Yoshida watched them until they were out of sight, then she looked up to me, then she backed up with a worried look on her face.

I showed a small smile to her, then I got down on my knees so that I was at her height, "it's okay Yoshida, you don't need to be scared of me, I'm a friend," I said kindly and in a soothing voice too. From what I do know, kids that age get scared quite easily, so I was doing the best I could to keep her calm and show her there's nothing to be scared of, "you can trust me," I held out my left hand slowly towards her and waited.

After a moment or two, she walked up towards me and placed her little right hand on my left hand, then she smiled.

"Now, let's get going, my wife is waiting for us...we're going to have a lot of fun tonight."

I think Yoshida liked hearing that we were going to have fun, cause it was at that moment that she ran up to my truck. I opened the door, then helped her inside and buckled her up safely in her car seat.

"Comfortable Yoshida?" I asked. She just smiled at me, "I'll take that as a yes."

I placed the bag full of her stuff behind my seat, then I started up the truck and drove off back to the house.

Kaede greeted us when we arrived, "Hello Yoshida, welcome to our home," she said sweetly to the little girl and like me, she was down on her knees just so that she could be at Yoshida's height level, "did you enjoy your ride here?"

Yoshida just smiled again, which probably means 'yes'.

After getting her shoes off, we lead Yoshida to the living room, "okay, let's see what we got in this bag," I reached in and pulled out a small teddy bear. Yoshida reached out because she wanted it, "here you go Yoshida," I said sweetly and handed the bear over to her. The moment she had it, she held it real close to her and gave it a big hug.

"How cute," Kaede smiled. She looked threw the bag and found the list of food that Yoshida could eat while I got a few more of her things out.

"Hey Kaede, um...just out of curiousity, where is Yoshida going to be sleeping?"

"She's going to be sleeping in Rimu's room, I phoned her earlier and asked her. She said 'Of course she can use it, it's not being used anyway'."

"Still not willing to talk is she?" I asked with a sigh. Kaede shook her head, "oh well, that day will come...not sure when though. Anyways, I'll take Yoshida's blankie and pillow upstairs."

"And while you're up there, can you put in the special guard for the side of the bed?"

"Sure Kaede."

The special guard is basically used to keep a child from rolling out of bed and hitting the floor. That's the last thing we would want to hear in the middle of the night...actually, that'd be the worst sound we could hear in the middle of the night. Once I had gotten to Primula's room, I started setting everything up for Yoshida, which included placing the safety guard on the left side of the bed.

"Is Yoshida here?" I heard Daisy ask from the doorway.

"Yeah she's here, she's in the living room with Kaede," I answered while checking to make sure the safe guard was firmly in place, "you know, I used to have one of these when I was a kid, really did a good job keeping me from falling out of bed."

"Yeah I had one of those too, really saved me one night."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I don't know how it happened, but one night, I must've been rolling in my bed and I rolled too far and got stuck in between the bed and safe guard. My parents couldn't believe what they seeing, especially when they saw me still fast asleep."

"I can't believe what I just heard," I chuckled, then I asked, "so where's Monty?"

"He's back in my room working on his homework and don't worry, he's promised to keep the swearing under control."

"That's good. Anyways, I should probably get back downstairs and see how Kaede and Yoshida are doing."

"Alright, but if you need any extra help, just call for us and we'll give you a hand."

"Thanks Daisy, see you in a bit," and with that, I walked past her and down the stairwell. I walked into the living room and found Yoshida eating some cheerios and some slices of bananas.

"Sana had packed some snacks in the bag," Kaede said to me, "And according to the list, that's what she usually has at around this time as a little snack, then she'll want to play a game."

"Does it say that on the instructions?"

"Yep," she said, holding the piece of paper out to me, "she likes playing any game, but her favourite is 'Hide and Seek'."

"Hide and seek," I sighed unhappily at that moment, "That wasn't one of my favourite games, I often had to play it alone and that was no fun. I told you this before, right?"

"Yeah, you told me that on the chatroom."

"Not one of my best memories..." I looked over to the couch and saw that Yoshida had stopped eating. I walked over towards her and once again got down on my knees so that I was at her level, "you finished Yoshida? Do you want anymore?" She didn't eat anymore, instead she pushed the container away, "okay, I'm guessing that you're full now. So, do you want to play a game?" Yoshida smiled again, "and again, I'll take that as a yes. Would you like to play, Hide and Seek?" Almost within an instant, she started cheering.

"Alright then...you and me can hide together and Kaede can try to find us, what do you think?" Again, Yoshida started cheering. "Alright. Kaede, you count to twenty and no peeking."

"Okay, I won't peek," she giggled.

So while she was counting, Yoshida and I quietly snuck out of the room and looked for places to hide. Yoshida soon found one, it was in the closest in the landuary room. As for myself, I hid behind the dryer, trying hard not to make a sound.

"Ready or not, here I come!" We heard Kaede call. After a minute, she came into the room and somehow, she found me with no trouble, "found you Matthew."

"Well done Kaede, you caught me, now let's find Yoshida."

It didn't take Kaede long to find her hiding in the closest, "we found you Yoshida," Kaede said sweetly. Yoshida giggled again, "okay now it's our turn to hide while Matthew looks for us."

"This shouldn't be too hard," I chuckled. I turned to face the wall and started counting, while those two girls snuck out of the room, "...and twenty, ready or not, here I come!" I called.

We played hide and seek for a couple of hours before returning to the living room for a rest.

"Okay, it's official now, Hide and Seek is one of my favourite games," I said out loud. It was then that we heard a little grumble, it sounded like it was coming from Yoshida, "oh, I think Yoshida is hungry."

"I'll go make dinner, I'll bring it here when it's ready," she said to Yoshida and then walked out of the room.

No sooner had she walked out of the room, then Yoshida started looking around and after a moment or so, she started whimpering, "What's wrong Yoshida?" I asked sweetly. She looked at me with sad eyes with some tears coming out, "you want your teddy bear? I'll get it for you...ah, wherever it is." I loooked around, but couldn't find it anywhere, "huh, I think your teddy bear is playing hide and seek."

I got up from the couch and looked around the room, I soon found the bear laying on the other side of the train set/living room table, "oh there it is," I reached down to pick it up, "you naughty bear, we're not playing hide and seek now. Bad bear, bad bear."

Yoshida was just smiling when she heard me say that, "I'll let you talk with this bear Yoshida," I held out the bear to her, she grabbed and held it close to her. While she hugged that bear, I took a look at the list. It said that after playing one of her games, Yoshida likes watching thirty minutes of TV.

"Yoshida, I'm going to turn on the TV, you let me know of what you want to watch, okay?"

I looked threw the 'kid friendly' channels until Yoshida started cheering at one show, it was the kid's show 'The Magic School Bus', "huh? I haven't seen this show since I was ten. Is this what you want Yoshida?" She was cheering happily and giggling too, "alright then, Magic School Bus it is."

Yoshida and I watched the entire episode of that show until it was complete and around the time Kaede came back with three bowls on a tray. Two were for us and the third was for Yoshida. The meal tonight was 'Spaghetti with Meat Sauce', "I hope you'll like it Yoshida. Be careful though, it's a little hot."

"Just blow on it, like this," I demostrated to Yoshida by blowing on a small portion of the spaghetti and taking a bite of it. I smiled after taking a bite, "now you try."

Yoshida did blow on her spaghetti and then ate it, she really liked it.

"Hey Kaede, are Daisy and Monty going to have anything to eat?"

"Yes," she nodded, "they're going to have the same thing we're having. They came actually came into the kitchen just as I had finished."

"Well talk about good timing," I chuckled, Kaede giggled and so did Yoshida.

After we were done eating, I took all the dishes back to the kitchen while Kaede, Daisy and Monty played with Yoshida for a bit. When I was done, I joined in on a game of 'ball', this is where we bounce the ball on the ground and try to check it as it's coming towards us. We played till around seven thirty when Kaede took Yoshida up for a bath.

"Oh boy that was a lot of fun," panted Monty as we walked up the stairwell, "I can't remember the last time I played 'ball' or 'Chase me'."

"Don't you play those games with Kelsey?"

"Yes I do, but it seems like it's been a long time since my brother and I got a chance to play games with our baby sister," he sighed unhappily, "I just wish that feud between Primula and Naomi would stop."

"Uh Monty, in case you've forgotten, Primula is now staying at Rin and Asa's house," I said to him, "you can visit your brother and sister anytime."

"Oh yeah, I guess, can't I?"

"Yeah and there was no reason you couldn't go before, it's only Little Sis that Primula doesn't want to see right now, she's fine with seeing you and Daisy."

"Huh, yeah I guess you're right, boy I've been such a baka. Daisy, can you remind me to call my brother and see if I can go hang out with him and Kelsey tomorrow?"

"Sure Monty, I'll remind you."

"Thanks."

Daisy let out a little yawn at that moment, "oh excuse me, we'd better get to bed, we'll see you in the morning Matt."

"Yeah, see you in the morning Daisy and you too Monty." They said good night to me and walked back into Daisy's room.

At around eight, Kaede and Yoshida came out of the bathroom with their pajamas on, "she's all ready for bed," Kaede said to me, "and I think she would like a bedtime story."

"I'll be there in a minute with a book." I looked threw my bookcase for one to read to Yoshida. I may have a huge collection of manga books, but I do have some other books and the only ones I have that are 'kid friendly' are my Thomas books, "hope Yoshida doesn't mind I read one of these books to her," I thought to myself.

Yoshida didn't mind at all, she enjoyed listening to the stories I was telling her about Thomas the Tank Engine. Just as I had finished the fourth story of the book I had brought in, I saw that she was asleep.

"Sweet dreams Yoshida," I whispered and leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead. Before walking out of the room, I made sure her teddy bear was sitting next to her pillow and she was tugged in nice and softly, then very quietly, I tip-toed out of the room.

Yoshida had a very good night sleep, although her silly teddy bear tried to play 'hide and seek' on her again, it was actually on the floor after she had gotten up and went over to the bathroom.

"Bad bear, why do you keep doing that?" I said firmly to the bear while Yoshida was watching, "I would punish you, but I think I'll let Yoshida do that. Here you go sweetie," I handed the bear over to her. She giggled happily and hugged her bear.

"Can you give us a few minutes Matthew?" Kaede asked, "I'm just going to change Yoshida into some new clothes."

"Sure thing Kaede, I'll go downstairs to get started on breakfast."

"Okay."

By the time Kaede and Yoshida came down, I was almost done with making breakfast. "Can you watch over Yoshida while I pack up the rest of her stuff?" Kaede asked.

"Sure Kaede, I can watch over her," I answered.

And that's just what I did, I kept an eye on Yoshida while still making breakfast, "well Yoshida," I said, getting down to her level again, "You'll be going home today, you'll get to see Mommy and Daddy again. I bet you're happy about that, aren't you?"

Instead of a smile, Yoshida walked up towards me and gave me a hug, then I heard her sobbing a bit.

"You like visiting our home don't you?" I asked her kindly, she continued to sob, "Yoshida, there's no need to cry. You're always welcome to visit our home anytime you want, alright?" Yoshida was still crying, so I rubbed her back softly and said soothing words to her.

"Is everything okay in here?" Kaede asked as she returned.

"Yeah everything's okay, it's just that Yoshida doesn't want to leave, she likes being here. I told her that she can visit anytime she wants."

"That's right, we're more than glad to have you over for a sleepover anytime Yoshida," she said sweetly to the little girl.

Right away, the young little girl started cheering up and showed her cute little smile once more.

Soon breakfast was ready, Yoshida was to have Cheerios with milk while the rest of us have sasuages and potatos. We ate everything on our plates until there was nothing left on them. Just as we had finished eating, we heard the doorbell ring, "oh, that must be Al and Sana. You ready to go home Yoshida?"

She cheered a little bit, but then looked around, "oh no, her teddy bear is hiding again," said Kaede.

"Not again," I chuckled, "don't worry Yoshida, I'll get it." I didn't need to look too far, the bear was underneath the table, "you're definetly going to need a time out now," I said firmly to the bear, (just to make Yoshida happy), "Yoshida will deal with you now."

I kindly handed the bear over to Yoshida, who once again hugged it, then Kaede and I walked with her to the doorway where her parents were waiting for her. Yoshida was so happy to see them that she walked quickly over to them. Sana held her arms out and once Yoshida was close enough to her, she brought her daughter close to her for a hug, "it's good to see you too my little girl."

"So how was she?" Al asked.

"She was good, she ate all her food and she had a good night's sleep last night, but the only problem she had was with that bear, it kept trying to play hide and seek on her."

"Yeah that bear's always doing that to her."

"She looks like she's been crying, why?" Sana asked.

"Well she had such a good time that she didn't want to go," Kaede answered, "But we told her that she is always to come back here anytime she wants."

"And we mean it too," I added.

"That's so sweet," Sana smiled, "and I think we can make some arrangements so that we can come back here and spend some time with you guys."

"We'd really like that, cause we had a good time having her here."

"Here's the bag full of her stuff," Kaede said, holding the bag out towards Al. He excepted it and carried it out to his car.

I followed him to the street, but instead of going over to his car, I went over to the truck to get the car seat out. After a moment or so, I had the seat out and had given it back to Al, "thanks Matthew, and thank you again for looking after Yoshida. This was actually the first time that she's slept anywhere else, I'm just glad she had a good time. I hope you don't mind if I ask, but if..."

"Yeah sure."

"I didn't even ask."

"Do you really need to? I already know and Kaede and I will be more than glad to babysit Yoshida anytime you two are busy."

"I swear you're becoming a mind reader," he chuckled, "I promise you that we'll owe you back for this."

"Nah you owe us nothing, we had a good time looking after your daughter."

"Are we ready to go Al?" Sana called as she came down the pathway with Yoshida in her arms.

"Just about ready honey! I need to put in the car seat." Once Al had done that, Sana placed Yoshida in the back seat and buckled her up and placed her teddy bear beside her. "Oh and Matthew, can you tell Mr. Quinten that I'll be a little late getting in?"

"Sure thing Al, I'll let him know."

"Thanks."

"Well we'll see you later," said Sana, "call us if you ever want to talk and please let us know if you feel any kicking Kaede."

"We will," Kaede said with a smile on her face. Within minutes, they were ready to go. They all waved to us as the car drove away, Kaede and I waved to them until the car was out of sight, then we headed off back to the house.


	51. Stakeout

Well, we're getting closer to the second season finale and then it's onto the third season. Anyways, the following chapter you are about to read is inspired by one of Todd Howard's own adventures on the television show 'World's Worst Tenants' and an episode of Reba entitled 'Spies Like Reba'. Also for this chapter, Ryan and Patrick make another return as they haven't been seen or heard from in quite a while. This chapter is mostly an 'answering questions' type of episode, meaning some of the questions that have not been answered before will finally get answered in this episode. Now as always, the rating is still the same as there is swearing included and a little bit of action (fighting) included. Also before I forget, this chapter's date is Friday October 28th 2011 and now here's the 51st episode of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 51: Stakeout**_

To conclude hobby week, as you can probably guess, we explained about model trains and about how to build train sets. After we were done, we packed everything back into the boxes and took them off the set. As we worked, we saw Mr. Quinten coming over to see us, "great show today guys, you were great."

"Thanks sir, we did our best like we always do," said Al.

"Well by the looks of things, you guys were doing more than that. Now there's another reason why I came out here. We're having some work being done on the family house, but we've got some problems."

"What kind of problems?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Vandalism," he muttered crossly through his breath. "We have vandals coming in the middle of the night and destorying the inside of the house while we are staying somewhere else. Like yesterday, we put drywall and by today, the drywall has been destoryed."

"Wait a minute here," Sakura piped up, "how can anyone get into your house in the middle of the night? Don't you ever lock the doors and windows?"

"Yes, but somehow they manage to get in and I don't know how. So anyway, I was wondering if you guys could help me."

"What about the police? Couldn't they help?"

"I tried the police, but it seems that when they are watching the place, the vandals never come around. That's why I'm asking you guys, considering all you've gone through."

"To be fair sir, half the time, we don't have a choice in some of those situations," I said.

"I understand, but I really do need your help and you and your friends are the best when it comes to dealing with these guys."

"Oh come on, there are others who are better than us...but, if you really need our help, you can count on us."

"Actually Matthew, I'm going to be busy tonight," said Al, "Sana and I are going to be spending a family evening with Yoshida, it's the least we can do for her considering we were..." he cleared his throat, "out for the entire evening last night."

"That's fine Al. What about you Sakura?"

"Oh sorry Matthew I can't help this time, I'm going out to a fancy resturant tonight with my family. Don't forget, Rose, Michael and I were away for quite a while, so we haven't spent any family time together."

"Alright, no problem, I'll just have to ask some other people to help out...and I think I might know who to ask..."

"So let me get this straight Matthew, you want Ryan and I to help you catch some vandals?" Patrick asked me. After getting off work, I went back to the house to pick up Kaede, then the two of us went over to Patrick's house to hang out with him, Yukie, Shiori and Ryan, who I'm sorry to say is still in a depressed state.

"Yeah, Mr. Quinten wants us to watch over the place and catch the vandals before they break anything else."

"Didn't you guys do something similar to this once before?" Yukie asked curiously as she walked up to the pool table.

"Yes, we did do something like this once," Kaede answered, "that one time when we watched over the school during the night because of vandalism."

"Oh yeah, that incident," Patrick muttered, remembering the events of that night.

"Yeah that incident, which turned out to be you guys," I said.

"Hey give us a break will you Matthew? We were out of our minds at that time, we've seen the error of our ways and now we're friends again."

"Yes I know that, you guys have come a long way since then. Now getting back to what we were talking about, are you guys going to help me or not?"

"Well I guess we could," said Patrick as he joined in on the game, "but should anything happen to me, I want Yukie to kick your sorry ass."

"Alright then, it's a deal," I groaned and looked in a different direction, "What about you Ryan? You in?"

"Yeah I guess," he sighed, "I got nothing better to do anyways."

I looked at Ryan with a look of concern on my face. Kaede piped up next, "I'll go with you too Matthew."

"That's sweet of you to offer Kaede, but this could be dangerous and I don't want to see you get hurt, especially since you are four months pregnant. I mean think about, if you got injuried, then our kid or kids would get injuried too."

"Yeah I guess you're right, it's probably better if I stay home."

"Right. Tell you what though, when I get home later, we'll read one of those manga books together, okay?"

"Okay," she said with a smile on her face.

Later that evening, I pulled up to Mr. Quinten's house with Patrick and Ryan riding with me. Patrick was going to do the surveillance and let us know of what's going on using the walkie-talkies to talk to us.

"Just remember Matthew, should I get hurt during this little stakout of ours, Yukie's going to kick your ass."

"Yeah, yeah whatever, just go and keep that walkie talkie of yours on!"

"Will do! See you guys in a bit," and with that, Patrick walked away to find a good stakeout spot so he could see the house.

Ryan sighed unhappily and looked out the window, "hey come on buddy, cheer up, they'll be other girls," I said kindly.

"Maybe, but they probably won't be like Emily. You know, I envy you for having a wife and I envy Patrick because he's got a girlfriend," he sighed once again, "I just hate being alone."

"Hey I know the feeling, before I met Kaede, I was always alone," I paused before saying, "I don't normally say this, but there was a time when I wanted to kill myself."

"What?"

"Well it was only because I hated being alone and didn't want to suffer anymore, but luckily I met Kaede and that awful thought just left my head."

"That's good," then he asked, "hey just out of curiousity, do you think Kaede still has feelings for Rin?"

"Well of course she does. Even though she has strong feelings for me, I know she still has some feelings left towards Rin, she always will. They did grow up together after all from childhood to their teenager years and she's always had a little crush on him."

"Do you ever fear that Kaede would ever betray you and leave you for Rin or someone else?"

"No, I don't ever fear that. I know Kaede very well and I know she would never do that, she is a kind caring person who never hurt someone else, either literally or emotionly...well not anymore."

"What?"

"It's a long story and although I would like to tell you, I promised Kaede I wouldn't."

"Alright then I won't ask."

We went quiet for a while, that was until we heard Patrick speaking threw the walkie talkie, "no new changes here, the house is completely empty, what's going on in your area?"

"No new changes here either...oh hold on, there's a car coming..." Ryan and I watched the car as it came down the street, but it passed the house, "nope, it passed the house. We don't see anyone else."

"Alright, keep me posted."

"Will do," I replied back and placed the walkie talkie back on the dashboard. "Something tells me we're in for a long night."

"Hey Matthew?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Why is Kaede a housewife? I mean, with all her skills and talents, she could work in a resturant or a clothing store or anywhere really."

"Well that's simple to answer, Kaede wanted to be a housewife because she loves looking after everyone in the house and keeping it nice and clean, plus she said to me once that she wouldn't feel comfortable working in a resturant or any store because of the way some guys act."

"Preverts."

"Yeah, that's it excatly. When she told me that, she asked me if I was okay with her decision and I told her yes, I am okay with her choice. She can do whatever she wants to do."

"Now that's sweet to hear, good to hear you're being a supportive husband."

"Well if I wasn't, I'd be like my dad, always ignoring the wife and treating her like trash, that's not who I am."

"Do you have sex with her every night?" I heard Patrick speak threw the walkie talkie.

"You can hear us Patrick?"

"Of course I can hear you dummy, you forgot to turn off the microphone on your walkie talkie."

I groaned and shook my head, "you're unbelievable you know that?"

"Yeah, yeah, so do you have sex with her every night?"

"You're not going to give up asking me until I answer you, am I right?"

"Give me the man a prize, he finally got it right," he said cheekily.

"Fine I'll answer you, if it gets you to stop asking me that question. Kaede and I haven't done it since she told me she was pregnant and for the record, we didn't do it every single night. Now shut up and keep a watch out on the house baka!" I snapped and turned off the microphone. "I don't know why he asked that kinda question."

"You have to admit it's just like old times," said Ryan, "We used to hang out and talk for a bit, then you two would start an argument and it would go on for a while."

"Yeah I guess it is like old times, well sort of. We're in here in a nice warm truck while Patrick is freezing his ass off out there."

"I heard that!" I heard him call.

"Good!" I said firmly into the walkie talkie before turning the microphone off, properly this time, "pressed the wrong button again," I muttered.

"Hey Matthew, does Kaede still have her fan-club?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, sadly," I muttered, "once and a while we meet up with one or two members who try to seperate us, but after a few words or after a couple of fists fly, they run away and we don't see them for a long time. We don't get that much trouble from them, unlike Sia, Nerine and the Sutton Twins."

"What?

"Well from what we have heard, those two couples still have trouble with Sia and Nerine's fan-clubs, they try to seperate the Sutton Twins from their girlfriends, just like they used to do when Rin was hanging out with them...hold on," I paused as I saw a person walking down the sidewalk (helps to have good eyes).

"What's up?"

"Someone's coming, stay quiet for a minute Ryan..." we stayed perfectly still as we watched the person walking towards the house, but they didn't stop, they just walked past our vehicle, "nope, it's just another passer by. Now, what were we talking about?"

"Sia and Nerine's fan-clubs."

"Right, thanks for reminding me. As I was saying, they used to try seperating Rin from the princesses and now they do that to the twins, usually when the fan-club members see the Sutton Twins with the princesses, they usually try attacking them with fists or anything that could be used as a weapon."

"But I'm guessing that they don't succeed right?"

"You guessed right Ryan, Dave and Daryl always kick their butts, but then again I'm not surprised, those two were always great students in the self defence classes. They were the best in the entire classroom, nobody could match them, not even me," I chuckled.

After a while, Ryan and I stopped talking as we kept a look out for any vandals. Getting close to around Midnight, I was about ready to call Patrick on the walkie talkie and tell him to come back to the truck when we heard him talk, "I see a light inside the house, but I didn't see anyone coming in," he whispered to us, "did you?"

"No we didn't, they must've snuck in threw the backway," I groaned, "that's probably how they are getting in."

"What are they doing right now?" Ryan asked.

"Nothing right now, they're just walking around..." but he had spoken too soon as we heard glass shattering coming from inside the house, "I'm going in!"

"No Patrick, we'll call the police and they'll..."

But Patrick didn't listen to me as I saw him get out of his hiding spot and run straight towards the house, "that darn hothead," I groaned, "come on Ryan, we better get in there and help him."

"Right," he nodded.

Within seconds, we were out of the truck and running towards the house. I was on the cellphone asking Damon to come to the house. Meanwhile, we could hear groaning noises as if someone was swinging something heavy.

We barged into the house and saw a man, a much older man, swinging a slegehammer at him. Patrick was able to dodge him, but he wasn't able to fight back, "whoa man, stop that! Put the freaking thing down! Care to give me a hand here guys?!" he shouted.

"Oh I don't know Patrick, I think you've got this under control," I said and leaned back aganist the wall, "you wanted to take this guy down, well now you can."

"What?" Patrick shouted and dodged as the slegehammer swung towards him. After a few swings and misses, Patrick shouted, "okay, maybe I shouldn't have run into the house, I'm sorry. Now please give me a fucking hand here before this guy smashes my brain out. Whoa!" he exclaimed as he dodged another swing.

"Alright Patrick, we'll give you a hand."

I ran up to the guy, who started swinging that thing at me, I dodged it everytime and whilst I was doing this, Ryan was sneaking up behind the guy, then without warning (well, to the vandal), Ryan grabbed him from behind and tackled him to the ground. The vandal tried to get back up, but with a little help from Patrick, Ryan was able to keep the guy from getting back to his feet.

"Alright you," I said firmly to the vandal, "you better start talking, what are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" he snapped at me.

"Well by the looks of things in this house, you're causing vandalism."

"What's your fucking deal?" Patrick snapped at him, "what do you have aganist Mr. Quinten?"

"He's a former boss of mine and I felt as though as he screwed me over and I felt it was about time I got some payback by destorying his house. That dumb son of a bitch!"

"I'm going have to speak to Mr. Quinten about this," I muttered before turning my attention back to the guy, "You do know that you could go to jail for this stuff?"

"What are you, cops?"

"No, but we're friends with them," I answered, "And they're going to be here any minute, so I suggest you don't get too comfortable. Ryan, Patrick; make sure he doesn't get away, I'll call the police."

I walked out of the house and called the police, then while we waited, I spoke with Mr. Quinten on the phone, "okay sir, we caught your vandal and he says that you screwed him over, care to tell me about that?"

"It depends on who it is," he said on the other end of the phone, "I've had some unsatisfied employees in the past...tell you what, I'll tell you guys everything when I get there, I need to get some things from the house anyways."

"Alright sir, see you in a few minutes."

After a few minutes, Mr. Quinten arrived. Right away, the Vandal snarled and cursed at the top of his lungs the moment he saw my boss, "what did you do to get this guy pissed off at you?" Patrick asked.

"He was a former employee that worked in my store years ago, but he quit after an argument we had."

"You didn't pay me as much as you said you would!" snapped the vandal, "ever since, I wanted to get my money's worth, so when I heard your house was being fixed, I decided to smash everything of yours until we met up to the corect amount of money you owe me."

"Well you won't be doing that today," Damon said as he walked in, he had heard everything as he walked up to the house, "we're going on a little trip to the station."

"Dammit!" snarled the man.

Of course, he tried to fight Damon in the hopes of getting away, but Damon and another officer made sure that he wouldn't get away.

"Can you believe that fucking idiot?" Patrick asked after they left, "he was swinging that fucking sledgehammer at me!"

"Maybe he just wanted to knock some sense into your head," I chuckled.

"Oh ha-ha, very funny Matthew," he grumbled sarcastically, "now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to the truck to get warmed up. I've been freezing my ass off waiting outside."

"Yeah go on ahead, you deserve it," I said kindly to him. After Patrick and Ryan walked out, I turned my attention to Mr. Quinten, "well, at least now you can continue your renovation work without worrying if someone's going to break in and destory the place."

"Yeah hopefully," he muttered.

Moments later, Damon returned to speak with Mr. Quinten, "until you get your repairs done and you move back in, we'll have a surveillance team watch over your house."

"Thank Mr. Drake, that takes alot of stress off knowing my house will be safe."

Damon then turned his attention back to me, "as for you Matthew, you and your friends did a great job tonight, if you ever decide to retire from your television show job, you can always come work with us at the police department."

"We'll see Damon," I said with a sly smile, "but for now, I'll stick with the job I got, it's much safer than busting bad guys all the time," I shivered at that moment as a cool breeze came into the house, "brr, I think I better get going. I got to drop those two off back at their places, then I go home and warm up. Mr. Quinten, I wish you good luck with your revonations, I don't think you're going to have anymore trouble for now on."

"Thanks Matthew and be sure to tell that to your friends too."

"Don't worry I will, good night."

"Good night Matthew and thanks again."

Before Damon left, he called in for a survillance team to come by the house, just like he said he would. When he had made the call, he drove away with the vandal back to the police station, then we left a few moments later.

After dropping Patrick and Ryan off back at their places and thanking them for their help, I drove off back to the house. The streets were calm on this slightly chilly evening, not alot of people were walking on the sidewalks and only a few cars or trucks were running on the roads.

"How peaceful," I thought to myself.

I soon arrived at the house, Daisy and Monty were already fast asleep, but Kaede was awake and watching the TV while laying on the bed.

"Did you catch whoever was causing the damage?" she asked me.

"Yep we caught him, but that Patrick...well, he just stormed into the house after hearing glass shatter, he's got to be more careful," I chuckled quietly, "something I should really say to myself if I ever get into a fight. So, what have you been doing while we were out?"

"We didn't do much, we just had dinner and played one of your video games."

"Ah correction, _our_ video games, remember what's mine is yours."

"Oh yeah, I forgot, sorry."

"It's okay."

"Did you eat anything?"

"Yeah, we all ordered cheeseburgers and ate them before we went to the house, but of course I perfer the food you cook better. Speaking of which though, Ryan asked me of why you're not working in a resturant or any workplace."

"What did you say to him?"

"Well I told him what you told me that night after we came back from our honeymoon, plus I told him that you like looking after everyone in the house."

"Which I do," she smiled.

"Yeah and I said that to him. Well now that the vandal is caught, I'm ready to go to bed, just give me a minute or two to get changed into my pajamas. What are you watching anyways?"

"I'm watching 'Canadian Pickers' on History Channel. In this episode, Scott and Sheldon are in Quebec."

"Oh really? Did they find anything interesting?"

"Yep, they're finding alot of interesting stuff, including some bar tables from a bar once owned by famous hockey players."

"Wow, talk about lucky finds," I said.

After a minute and a half, I was in my pajamas and, after turning off the lights, I layed down next to Kaede. She already had a couple of pillows at the foot of the bed and she had our blue and pink dolphins sitting in between our pillows. We were too tired to read a manga book, so we stayed awake for roughly about ten to fifteen minutes while watching Canadian Pickers, until we finally grew tired and closed our eyes and went off to sleep, holding hands again and with her head resting on my right shoulder.


	52. The Silver Lining

Well my friends, the moment has finally arrived. After an entire year of working on the second season of Our Kinda Life, we've made it to the Season Two finale. As recalled in Episode 31, Marshall the young boy that Naomi had a serious crush on, was involved in a very serious accident which knocked him out cold and Naomi believed that Primula was responsible for the accident, well in this episode, the 'silver lining' will finally come. For this episode, Marshall's horrible family as he described them, will come in for their 'not so grand' introduction, plus there's one more little surprise involved in this episode. What is it you ask? Sorry, but I can't reveal it just yet, you'll have to read to find out what it is. As per usual, the rating is the same as there is going to be some swearing involved and some fighting will also be going down in this chapter and for all of you who like keeping track of the time, the date of this chapter starts on Saturday October 29th 2011. Anyhow, that's enough chatter from me right now, here's the long awaited Season 2 finale of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 52: The Silver Lining**_

The following next morning, after eating breakfast and cleaning up, Kaede, Daisy, Monty and I went over to the megamall. Daisy and Monty wanted to get some Halloween Costumes for Monday night since they were going to a party held at their school. As Kaede and myself, we were getting some Halloween treats for the trick or treaters and getting some decorations to put up on that night.

"So what kind of scheme are you going to pull this year Matthew?" Monty asked.

"Oh you'll find out soon enough Monty," I chuckled.

"Well it better not be the hot sauce trick, I'm too smart for that trick."

"I know you are, that's why I'm not going to do that one this year, you'll just have to wait to find out what it is," I turned around for a second and gave a sly grin across my face. Because I was doing that though, I hadn't noticed that Kaede had stopped walking, so I ran into her. "Sorry Kaede, are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine Matthew."

"Why did you stop?"

"Look over there!" she pointed to the direction of where she was looking.

I looked to that direction and saw Naomi with Lance, they were looking at Halloween costumes. By the looks of things though, Naomi wasn't really interested in buying a costume.

"How about this princess costume, would you like that sis?" Lance asked as he pointed to one costume, "personally, I think you'd look cute in this costume."

"No, I don't want to a princess."

"Oh okay, so what do you want to dress as."

"A skeleton with the blood all over the bones."

"A Skeleton with blood all over the bones? I don't know if they've ever made a costume like that, but I'll see what I can find." And so Lance went looking threw the costumes while Naomi stood in the same spot, not doing anything.

From where we stood, we could see dark lines under Naomi's eyes, her clothes were wrinkly and she still had a frown on her face, "it's getting worse," said Daisy, "from what she told us, every night she dreams about the accident over and over again, and then she sees herself fighting Rimu, but this time, nobody is stopping Rimu from finishing her off."

"Geez, talk about a bad dream."

"Uh-Oh."

"What's wrong Monty?" Kaede asked.

"Take a good look at who's going to pass Naomi and Lance," he said and pointed in the direction he was looking. We all looked too and saw who it was, it was Primula, along with Max, "I smell trouble."

Like Naomi, Primula's little black sweater with all wrinkled and she had a sad look on her face. Unlike Naomi though, the lines under her eyes were completely black.

"You know those two are going to get into a fight," Monty said nervously.

But they didn't fight, Primula was so depressed that she just walked past Naomi without saying a word or even looking over towards her. As for Naomi, she didn't curse or swear at Primula or get into a fight with her, it's as if she didn't see Primula.

"Okay so there was no fight," Monty said, sounding a little bit confused, "I thought for sure that they would or at least shout at each other."

It was at that moment that Naomi looked over towards us, "hey Big Bro, Kaede, Daisy and Monty," she said quietly, "you getting ready for the trick or treaters?"

"Yeah and we're getting costumes today," Daisy answered.

"Found one!" called Lance. He pulled out a skeleton costume covered in nothing but red blood, "now are you sure you want this kind of costume Sis, cause I know you don't like this kind of stuff."

"No Lance it's fine, I don't mind being a skeleton."

"Well alright if you're a 100% sure, then I'll get this for you."

"Thanks Lance, we'll see you guys later," she said to us before turning on her heel and walking away.

"Now that is the shortest conversation we've ever had with that girl," said Monty.

"Well at least she's talking today," said Lance, "yesterday she hardly said a single word. No wait, come to think of it, she hasn't said a single word since she came from your place."

"What? But that was on Tuesday night."

"Yeah it was, but it's true, not a single word has come out of her mouth. Well I better go before I lose sight of my sister, I'll see you guys later." He turned and ran off to catch up with Naomi.

"I'm guessing by their attitudes now, that 'silver lining' you were talking about is not going to be coming anytime soon," Monty said to me, "who knows, that rivalry of theirs might go on for years."

"Who knows Monty. Maybe it'll be years or maybe it'll be days, we don't know. When they're ready, they'll patch things up, just like I told you before." Secretly though, I was starting to have my doubts that they would have a 'silver lining'.

Sometime later that day, I was hanging up some of the decorations in the kitchen when Asa and Rin arrived, after they had said hello to Sia and Dave, "good news," Asa said cheerfully, "I felt it today, my baby kicked!"

"It's quite a kicker too," chuckled Rin, "I think this one might be a soccer player."

"I don't think so Rin, I have a strong feeling she's a karate master. I mean, did you feel the way she was kicking?"

"She? Do you know if it's a girl?" Kaede asked.

"No we don't know if it's a girl yet," Rin answered, "we have to make an appointment for an ultra sound, only then we'll find out if it's a boy or girl."

"Personally I hope it's a girl," Asa cheerfully, "so what's new around here?"

"Nothing much, except that a couple of days ago, Matthew and I were looking after Al and Sana's daughter, little Yoshida, do you remember her?"

"Oh yeah I remember her, she's as cute as a button, so how was it?"

"It was pretty good," I answered, "we played hide and seek with her, had dinner with her and we read a couple of bedtime stories. Although she had a little problem with that teddy bear that kept on playing 'hide and seek' on her."

"So what did she do?"

"Well she scolded that bear in her own way."

"How cute," Asa smiled, "I'm looking forward to doing those kinds of things with our child. Speaking of children though, have you felt anything yet Kaede?"

"No not yet, but I'll probably start feeling them kick soon."

"You're four months preganant now right?" Kaede nodded her head in response to Asa's question, "usually a woman will feel the baby kick within four to six months, so it could happen any day now."

"And we're both looking forward to that day," I smiled, "now Rin, can you give me a hand with this spooky banner?"

"Yeah sure," he nodded and got up from his seat.

Just as we were lifting the banner, the phone started ringing, "I'll get it," said Kaede. She walked over towards the phone we have in the kitchen and answered it, "hello, Fuyou and Gagnon Residants. Oh hello Naomi, is something wrong? Uh well, I'll have to check with Matthew, just hold on a second," she looked over towards me.

"Let me guess, Little Sis needs a ride tonight?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "Lance is going to be busy tonight and the rest of the Nakata family are out of town for the night. Naomi doesn't want to go down to the hospital all alone."

"Alright, tell her I'll be more than glad to take her to the hospital."

"Okay," she then spoke back to Naomi, "Matthew will there to pick you up, but I want to ask you something? Would it be alright if I go with you two? Alright then, we'll be there in a couple of hours. Okay Naomi, bye."

"How did you know Naomi needed a ride tonight?" Rin asked.

"Oh I just had a feeling...actually, I knew that was what she was going to ask, cause if Lance wasn't busy, she'd go to the hospital with him. In fact, that's the only reason she ever calls us nowadays."

"Really?" Asa asked in surprise.

"Yes," Kaede nodded sadly.

A couple of hours later, after Rin and Asa left to meet up with Ms. Ama, Kaede and I headed off to the hospital with Naomi sitting in the back seat, "so what's Lance doing tonight Little Sis?"

"I told know, I wasn't listening," she answered while looking down to the floor. "Thanks for the lift you two, I just don't feel safe walking along to the hospital by myself."

"Well you know us, we're always glad to help out."

"Yeah I know," she muttered quietly, "you say that all the time."

It wasn't long before we finally arrived at the hospital. After parking the truck, we walked into the building and headed over to ICU. Along the way, we spotted Erica in the hallways.

"Hi Erica, what are you doing here?" Kaede asked.

"My dad's having an operation today, they're getting him ready for it right now."

"What's he in here for?" I asked.

"He's got a broken bone in his right leg, he had a little accident yesterday at the steelworks. The doctor says he's quite lucky that was all that was broken, usually accidents in big plants like his are usually worse than what he went threw."

At that moment, a couple of doctors came out with a strecther and with Erica's father laying on it. Her mother was following close by, "come on honey, they're going to take your dad to the Operating room."

"Coming!" she called, "I'll see you guys later."

"See you later Erica," Kaede said to her, "and wish your dad good luck for us."

"I will," she nodded and then walked away.

Once Erica and her family were out of sight, the three of us continued walking threw the hallways until we finally reached the ICU. Naomi paused as we reached the door, she took in a deep breath and then walked in with Kaede and I following close behind.

Marshall was still in the same position he had been in the last time I saw him, his eyes were still closed, but most of the machines that had been in the room before were now gone and his bruises were pretty much gone..

"He's doing quite well in recovering," Naomi said to us, "but he still hasn't woken up. If you want to say hello you can, I know he can hear you guys."

Kaede walked up to the bed first, "Hello Marshall, do you remember me? It's Naomi's older sister Kaede, I'm with her and my husband."

"Hey Marshall, we just came by to see how you're doing," I said.

For a moment, it looked he was trying to smile, but really he was only moving to probably get into a comfortable position. Naomi's eyes started watering again, she walked up to the bed and collapsed onto her knees as she burst into tears.

"Oh Marshall, I wish you were awake right now. My life just hasn't been the same since your accident. I wish I could hear your voice again, I really miss you."

Marshall moved again, but still his eyes were closed.

"Poor Naomi," Kaede whispered to me, "it must be awful to see the person you love just laying there like that."

"Yeah it is a terrible feeling Kaede and that's what I felt when you were attacked by the four knuckleheads and were knocked out cold," I whispered back.

Naomi cried all over Marshall's bedsheet until she had no more tears left to cry out, "maybe I should go get some tissues," she sobbed. "I'll be right back Marshall, I promise."

She slowly got to her feet and turned to leave the room, but as she reached the doorway, she heard a voice speaking out to her, "don't leave babe, we still have a lot to talk about."

"Huh?" she exclaimed and quickly turned around.

She looked back over to Marshall, his head tilted to the left, then very slowly, his eyes opened up and a smile appeared on his face, "hey babe, it's been a while hasn't it?"

"It...It...It has," Naomi's shoulders twitched and her lips quivered, then she ran up to the bed and wrapped her arms around Marshall, "Marshall, you're really awake. I never thought I'd get a chance to hear your voice again, I really missed you!"

"Well I missed ya too babe, gosh damn it's good to see your beautiful face again. I had almost forgotten what ya looked like." He slowly got up and placed both his hands on Naomi's cheeks. The young red head showed off that cheerful smile that we haven't seen in a long time while tears poured down from her eyes.

"Now, what's this I heard about ya fighting with your sister?"

"Well Marshall, it's all her fault. If it hadn't been for her, you wouldn't have gotten hit by that car."

"Oh so that's what hit me," he groaned, rubbing the back of his head, "did ya get the licence plate number of it?"

"The police already took care of the Drivers involved."

"Good, now ya can do me a little favour and talk with your sister. She had nothing to do with the accident."

"Yes she did, she started shouting at us just because I was with you."

Marshall shook his head, "No Naomi, it wasn't Primula's fault. The accident was caused by a reckless Driver, I saw the damn ploke running threw a red light and smacking into another car, that's why it came straight towards us. Even if your sister didn't stop us, we would still have been involved in that accident," he paused and looked in a different direction, "Isn't that right Primula?"

Naomi turned around and looked over to the doorway and saw Primula standing there. Even to this day, that girl can sneak up on anybody, we still don't how she does that.

"Marshall's right," said Primula, "I did see a reckless Driver run the red light and smash into another car."

"Okay so maybe I was wrong to blame you for the accident, but I still don't get what you got aganist my relationship with Marshall."

"I was only looking out for you. I remembered how horrible Marshall was before and I thought maybe he would hurt you in the same way he hurt me."

"Well that's all in me past now Rimu," said Marshall, "the old ass is gone and his place is...well, me. A ploke who cares for others and wants a wonderful relationship with a girl who likes me for me."

"Yes I see that now and I also saw it on that day when you pushed Little Sis out of the pathway of that car. I was wrong to yell at you and Little Sis, so that's why I came down here, to apologize for the way I acted."

"You got nothing to apologize for Big Sis, I'm the one who should apologize. Now that I know what really happened that day, I now know I'm the one who's been acting like a jerk."

"No I'm the one who should be saying sorry."

"Oh come on girls, there's no need to start another argument, why don't both say 'sorry' and forgive each other."

Both girls nodded and together they said "I'm sorry," in unison, before hugging each other. It was a great sight to see, finally after almost a whole month of seeing them trying to tear each other apart, the 'sisters' had patched up their differences and were now good friends once again.

"Well, well, well, look who's finally up, you dumb bastard," snarled a voice from the doorway.

Standing in the doorway was a young female with scruffy clothes on and with a patch of black hair hanging over her right eye. There was also a young man standing behind her, he too had black hair and his clothes were completely scruffy and had more than a few holes in it.

"Hello Curtis, Cassandra," said Marshall, "what brings ya plokes here?"

"What else? To see if you're dead or not," sniffed Cassandra.

"Why aren't you dead not?" Curtis said angerily, "we don't want to see your punk face again, we don't even want to see you take another breath."

"Mum and Dad also asked us to sent you a message, they hope you rot in hell when you die."

Naomi looked like she was going to pop a vain after hearing that. Cassandra then looked over to where Naomi stood, "so is this your girlfriend?" she walked up towards her, rubbed the left side of her face...before slapping it, "stay the hell away from that loser you little bitch."

She was going to regret doing that, cause it was at that moment that she was punched in the gut, then slapped hard in the face. Sounds like something I would do right? Well this time it wasn't me who did that, it was Primula, "what the hell bitch?" snapped Cassandra.

"I just thought you deserved a taste of your own medicine," Primula said angerily, "besides, you deserved it. Nobody slaps my baby sister and gets away with it."

"You made a grave mistake little bitch, now I'm going have to pound the shit out of you." Cassandra charged at Primula, but she never got close to the little girl. Using her magic, Primula had frozen Cassandra right in her tracks.

"Damn you bitch!" snapped Curtis, who ran up towards Primula, but never got to her, as Naomi kicked him in the one place guys don't want to kicked in, then she punched him hard in the nose, "oh you are so dead."

"Enough!" snapped Marshall, "you two dumb bakas will not hurt my girlfriend, her sister or anyone I know. Now get your punk asses out of my view!"

"Fine we'll go," groaned Curtis, whose nose was already bleeding. "But don't expect us to welcome your sorry dead ass back to the house, you're out of the family, do you hear me Bastard!"

"I heard you, now get out ya dumb sumbitches!"

Curtis looked like he was going to charge at Marshall and kick his ass, but after seeing Primula and Naomi standing their ground to protect Marshall, he quickly decided not to. He got hold of his frozen sister, then he dragged her away from the room and away from the ICU.

"Thanks ya two," Marshall smiled, "I really appreciate what ya did there. Not many people would dare stand up to me dumbass sister and brother and still manage to kick 'em sorry asses."

"Hey, we're always glad to help anyone in need," said Naomi.

"That's something we learned from our older siblings," smiled Primula. Both girls looked over towards us and winked before turning their attention back to Marshall, "but what will you do now? You don't have a home anymore."

"I wouldn't worry about it Primula, I'll find a home for myself, once I get out of the hospital."

"Actually I might have an idea," said Naomi, "although there's no room back at the Gagnon/Fuyou house, maybe you could stay with my older brother Lance and the Nakata family, they have plenty of room at their house."

"Oh no I don't want to be a bother..."

"You won't be a bother, I'm sure my brother and his family will let you stay at their house..." she paused and looked over to us, "and if it's alright with you guys, I would like to move back home."

"You don't even need to ask Little Sis," I smiled, "you're always welcome to come back."

"What about you Rimu?" Kaede asked.

There was silence agmost everyone in the room, we all waited to hear what Primula was going to say, then at last she answered Kaede's question, "well now that our little 'rivalry' has finally been put to rest, I think it's a good time for me to move back in. As long as it's okay with you Little Sis."

"Of course it's okay with me," she said happily. She then walked up to her big sister and hugged her again, Primula smiled and gave Naomi a hug back.

Of course that wasn't going to be the only joyful moment in the hospital room tonight...while they hugged, Kaede started groaning, "ow! Ow!"

"What's wrong Kaede?" I asked with a worried tone in my voice. Naomi, Primula and Marshall all looked in our direction to see Kaede groaning for a moment.

"Nothing's wrong Matthew," she said, sounding cheerful and looking down to her stomach.

"Kaede, did you..."

"I felt them Matthew, they're kicking. Go ahead and feel..." I placed my hand on her stomach and instantly, I felt some soft kicks, "it's our children Matthew."

I was just at a loss of words, but I was smiling, "yeah it's them alright," I finally said after a while.

"Can I feel them Kaede?" Naomi asked.

"Of course you can Naomi," Kaede smiled. Naomi placed her hand on Kaede's stomach and right away, she felt some kicks. Primula walked up next and placed her right hand on Kaede's stomach, she also felt some kicking.

"What's going on in here?" asked another voice. It was one of the nurses, she was surprised to see Marshall awake and see Primula, Naomi and myself surronding Kaede.

"My wife can feel our kids kicking," I answered, "plus Marshall just woke up."

"Yes I can see that," said the nurse. She walked up to the bed to see Marshall, "how do you feel young man?"

"Crap, I feel crap. I feel like some damn ploke was using my body as a punching bag, plus I feel hungry."

"Well we'll get you some food in a moment. The good news is that none of your bones were broken in the accident and thanks to a donor, we were able to give you enough blood to replace the large amount you lost, luckily they had the same blood type as you. We just want to keep you here a couple more days, then we'll let you go home."

"Oh that will be great," smiled Marshall, "cause truth be told here, these damn beds are really uncomfortable."

"You don't know how many times I hear that," said the nurse, "anyways I'll let you guys talk for a bit, I'm going to get your food for you."

The nurse turned and walked away, leaving the five of us to talk.

Later that evening, Daisy, Monty, Kaede and I helped bring Naomi and Primula's things back into the house. Earlier when we got back to the Nakata house, Naomi asked Lance and his family if Marshall could stay at their place and they all said that he was more than welcome to stay with them.

"Welcome home Rimu," Kaede smiled and pushed her bedroom open.

Primula took in a moment to look into her old room, then she walked over towards her bed, "that old saying is true, there really is no place like home. Don't get me wrong, I had a good time at Max and Monty's house and at Rin and Asa's house, but I felt a little homesick during that time, so it feels good to be back."

"I know the feeling," said Naomi as she stood in the doorway, "I felt a little homesick myself while I was staying at Lance's house, despite the fact I haven't been away that long. So I agree with you that it's good to be back, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go crash on my bed, see ya!" She winked and ran off towards her bedroom.

"Well it's nice to see her cheerful mood again," said Daisy.

"Yeah it is good to see her like that again," I nodded, "now Daisy I want to ask you, since Primula and Naomi are moving back in, is Monty going to be moving back in with his family?"

"Yeah he's going to move back in with his family, but he's going to wait till after Halloween evening, if that's okay."

"Of course it's okay. Going for the broken record here, you don't even need to ask."

"Thanks Matt. Just a heads up though, he's got something sneaky planned for Halloween, so you might want to watch out."

"Thanks for the heads-up Daisy, I'll be sure to keep an eye on Monty," I looked behind me and saw Monty looking at me with a sly grin, "I'll be ready for you Monty," I muttered quietly.

Within an hour, Primula and Naomi were settled in once again and were now sleeping in their own beds. Daisy and Monty were still up at this time watching a movie, I think it was 'Smokey and the Bandit'. While they were doing that and Kaede was having a bath, I was on the Sodor Island Forums talking with my friends.

"I have some good news, some great news and even greater news. First the good news; Marshall's woken up and he'll be released from the hospital in a couple of days."

"That is good news," said Warrior's message, "now what's the great news?"

"The great news is that finally after almost a whole month, Primula and Little Sis finally made up and now, they're not only talking to each other, kindly I might add, but they've both moved back into the house."

"Oh that's great," said Jamesfan's message, "I was wondering when those two would stop fighting. Now what's the even greater news?"

"Well as you know, Kaede is entering her fifth month of being pregnant and today, she felt kicking in her stomach, it was from our children."

"Oh well that's wonderful news," said Metamorphical's message, she even added a smile on the end of that sentance, "you two must be so happy right now."

"Yeah we are," I answered happily with a smile at the end of my sentance, "I tell you, today's been a good day."

"And I bet you and Kaede are looking forward to the day when your kids are born, right?" asked Sierracat27's message.

"Yep, we're both looking forward to that day," I replied back happily.

After chatting with my friends and informing them of what went on that day, I checked out some of the other stories on the site and watched some videos on Youtube. Ten minutes after the conversation, Kaede came into the bedroom with her nearly white pajamas on while she was still smiling.

"Are they kicking again Kaede?"

"Yes, they are, just feel." I placed my right hand on her stomach, sure enough I could feel our young ones kicking in her stomach, "in four or five months, we'll be holding our kids in our arms."

"Yeah," I nodded happily.

We stared into each other's eyes, then we leaned in and kissed on the lips. We kissed for about two and a half minutes before seperating and taking in deep breaths of air.

"Ready to go to sleep?"

"Yeah, I am," she nodded.

I walked over to the door, locked it, then I turned off the lights and walked over to the bed. I climbed in and layed down right next to Kaede, who was still showing that angel like smile.

"Comfortable my sweet wife?"

"Yes, I'm comfortable, my sweet husband. I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah, I'll see _you_ in the morning," and like always, I winked at her when I said 'you' and of course she giggled happily. I leaned in and kissed her on her forehead, "I love you Kaede," I whispered softly to her.

"And I love you too Matthew," she whispered back and leaned in to kiss me on the right side of my face.

Before closing our eyes, Kaede reached out her left hand out to me, I grabbed it softly with my right hand. Then once our hands were holding onto each other, we both closed our eyes and went to sleep, dreaming about what our future is going to be like, with our little ones running around the house.


	53. Amazing Discoveries

Hello there loyal readers, it's me once again with the all new third season of the 'Our Kinda Life' series. I was going to introduce this chapter before Christmas last year, but I had a lot of things to do for the two Christmas parties I was holding, plus I had some other projects that needed to be taken care of, so I put this chapter on hold until I finally got some time to write it up. Now for those who like to keep track of the timeline in this series, we've jumped ahead from October 2011 to February 26th 2012. Anyhow, that's all I have to say for now, I hope you'll enjoy reading the chapters of this season and get ready to see not one, but two sets of mirciles.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 53: Amazing Discoveries**_

It had snowed the night before, leaving roughly over a foot of snow on the ground. So on this chilly Sunday morning, Daisy and I were outside shovelling the snow off the sidewalk and clearing a safe path to the roads. We were doing quite well and were nearly done when we heard, "Kikyou! Why did you do that?"

"I felt like it," came the reply.

"Sounds like Kikyou's bothering Sia again," sighed Daisy. She climbed up on top of a snowbank until she was at the top and could see Sia's front yard, "yep, she's bothering Sia again."

"What is she doing?" I asked.

"Throwing snowballs at her while she's shovelling snow...kinda like how Naomi does the same thing to you, when she fells like it."

"Isn't there anything better you can do instead of bothering me?" Sia asked her sister.

"Hmm...nope, I rather bother you," and with that, she picked some more snow, packed it together into a ball, then she threw it right at Sia. Sia ducked and it missed her by inches.

"Are you still mad at me cause I got Dave?"

"What do you think baka?!"

"That's enough Kikyou," said another voice, it was their mother, Cineraria. "Why don't you go inside and help your dad?"

"No thanks, I rather bother Sia," said Kikyou. She picked up some more snow and packed it together into another snowball.

"Now young lady!" Cineraria said firmly. Kikyou looked back to her mother and saw 'the look' on her face. Kikyou resisted it at first, but she finally gave in and went inside to help her father.

"Oh geez," groaned Daisy, "you're lucky that you're not up here Matt. Cineraria just gave Kikyou 'the look'."

"The look," I gasped, "that's the one expression that scares the crap out of me whenever I see it."

"Thanks mom, that really helped," Sia called to her. Cineraria winked happily at her daughter, then she walked back inside. Once she had gone inside, Sia looked over to the stone wall, "Sorry you had to see that Daisy."

"How did you know I was here?"

"I heard you climbing up the snowbank a while ago...plus I saw you while my mom was giving Kikyou 'the look'."

"Have you ever been given 'the look' from your mom cousin?" (In case you didn't know, Daisy and Sia are actually cousins).

"More times than I can count," Sia shuddered just thinking about it, "that's why I try hard to avoid getting it...by the way, how do you know the look Matthew? As far as I know, Kaede doesn't give you the look."

"Well it's true Kaede doesn't give me the look, I have seen it from other women in the past, which included my mother, it's gets to me everytime...hey hold on a second, how did you know I was out here?"

"I heard you before, plus I heard Daisy call your name."

"Oh."

"So, I heard that you and Kaede are going to the doctor's office today for an ultra sound, you must be excited about it."

"Excited isn't the proper word to use, but it's up there," I smiled.

"I can imagine it would be. Just between the three of us though, which set of kids do you want to have, boys or girls?"

"Either one is fine with me," I answered, "cause I'll still love them no matter what."

"Ahh that's so sweet, I can tell you're going to be a good dad to those kids..." she paused and looked back to the house, "speaking of which, I better get back to work before my dad sends Kikyou out here to help me," she groaned. "I'll see you guys later and please let me know of what you guys are going to have, okay?"

"You got it Sia," I said.

And on that note, Daisy and I climbed down the snow embankment and went back to work.

Later that afternoon, Kaede and I were sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office, waiting to be called in for the ultra sound appointment. While waiting, we were looking threw the Bachmann Trains 2012 catalog and listening to the music playing over the speakers.

We weren't the only ones in the waiting room, there was an older man with his seven year old son, who was looking nervous.

"Do I really have to do this?" he asked.

"Yes you do," his father answered, "it's just to make sure you don't get Chicken Pox like many of your friends have."

"But I don't want to get that shot, it'll hurt," he said nervously, "besides I've never gotten sick before."

"Right," said his father, rolling his eyes, "have you forgotten last year when you got sick in the middle of the night and threw up all over your bed?" There was silence agmost the two of them, then the boy's father continued, "Chicken Pox are no fun, you feel like you want to scratch them all the time and you can't eat any of your favourite foods, plus people will want to stay away from you."

"I don't care, I don't want to get a shot."

"There's nothing to be scared of," I spoke up. Both the boy and his father looked over to me, "getting a shot doesn't hurt at all, you hardly feel a thing."

"How would you know?" the boy asked, not meaning to sound mean by asking that question.

"I had that very shot when I was twelve years old and let me tell you, it's painless. It won't hurt and best of all, it kept me from getting the chicken pox and if it can do that for me, it can do the same for you."

"Are you sure it won't hurt?"

"I'm quite sure it won't," I said reassuringly, "trust me, you'll be fine."

Just hearing that, the boy's fears seemed to disappear and a smile came to his face, "thanks for that," the boy's father said to me.

"Glad I could help," I smiled.

At that moment, a doctor came into the waiting room, "Mr. and Mrs. Gagnon, Doctor Mizuki is ready for you two."

"Okay we're coming," I said. I held out my right hand and Kaede grabbed it softly with her left hand, "you ready honey?"

"Yes, I'm ready," she nodded.

Kaede and I walked threw the hallways until we finally arrived in the office where Doctor Mizuki was waiting for us, "hello Mr and Mrs. Gagnon, it's good to see you today...you especially Mrs. Gagnon."

"Huh?"

"You probably don't remember me, but I was your doctor when you were eight years old."

"Well I'm sorry, but I don't remember you," said Kaede, "I was, as Matthew would say, zoned out during the entire time."

"Nah that's okay," she said, "I'm just glad to have helped and it always makes me smile when I see patients years later doing quite well. Now, are you two ready to see your kids?"

"Yes we are," Kaede and I nodded in unison.

"Okay then, let's get started. Mrs. Gagnon, I need you to lay down on the table and pull your shirt right up to your chest." Kaede did what she was asked and soon she was laying there on the table with her shirt pulled up to her chest. Doctor Mizuki placed some kinda weird looking gel on Kaede's stomach, then she placed a sensor on top of it gently, "watch the screen you two," she said cheerfully.

Kaede and I looked to the screen and there was a little baby, "aww, it's so cute," Kaede said cheerfully.

"Yeah," I smiled, but then I noticed Doctor Mizuki's confused look, "is something wrong Doctor Mizuki?"

"No nothing's wrong," she said, "it's just that I was looking at the size of your wife's stomach and it seems to be a little big for just one child...I wonder..." she stopped talking and moved the sensor a bit along Kaede's stomach. After a moment of silence, she finally spoke up, "just as I thought, you guys have twins."

"Twins?" Kaede gasped.

"No hold on, I see another one in there...it's triplets."

"Triplets?" I gasped this time, "are you sure?"

"Possitive," she nodded, "You two are going to be the proud parents of three kids. It's very rare to ever have triplets, but it is a wonderful miricle."

Kaede and I were speechless, but we were smiling at this wonderful news, "now, would you two like to find out if they're boys or girls?"

"Yes please," we said in unison again.

"Alright then," Doctor Mizuki moved the sensor a bit along Kaede's stomach while looking at the screen, "okay, your first child is going to be a boy."

"A boy, isn't that great Matthew?"

"Yeah it is," I nodded as I looked at the screen. It was indeed a little boy, a son of our own, "I can only hope I don't do what my dad did to me when I was growing up," I thought to myself.

"Mr. Gagnon, are you okay?" Doctor Mizuki asked.

"Huh? Uh...yeah, I'm okay," I said, snapping out of my thoughts, "I guess I kinda zoned out there, my bad. Now what about the other two?"

"We're going to find out right now..." again, Doctor Mizuki moved the sensor along Kaede's stomach until she got a good view of our second child, "okay now this is also rare, your second child isn't a boy, it's a girl."

"A girl?" Kaede asked in surprise.

"That's right, it doesn't happen very often, now for that third child..." she moved the sensor a bit, but it seemed that our third child was playing 'hide and seek' behind the other two babies, "quite a cheeky little kid this one," chuckled Doctor Mizuki, "oh wait, I can see it now...your third child is going to be a girl."

"One boy..." Kaede started with her eyes wide open.

"And two girls?" I finished, sounding surprised.

"That's right Mr and Mrs. Gagnon, you're going to be the proud parents of one boy and two girls. As I told you, it's very rare to have triplets, but to have different sets like you two will have, that's really rare. You two are really lucky if you ask me."

"Yeah, we're lucky," Kaede smiled as she held her left hand out to me.

I placed both my hands over her hand and held it softly in between my hands, "yes, we're very lucky," I nodded in agreement.

After our appointment, Kaede and I went back to the Gagnon/Fuyou house and told our good news to our three sisters, "are you guys serious?" Naomi asked in complete shock, "are you telling us the truth?"

"Yes we're telling you the truth," said Kaede, "Matthew and I are going to have triplets, one boy and two girls."

"I must have wax in my ears, cause I thought I heard you say one boy and two girls, that can't happen," said Naomi, "can it?"

"It can and it is going to happen," I said, "Kaede and I saw them on the screen in Doctor Mizuki's office."

"They're so cute and adorable," smiled Kaede, "although one of them likes to play hide and seek in my stomach, she was trying to hide from the sensor."

"Oh man, I wish I could've seen them."

"Well you can," I said and held out several papers with pictures of the three babies, including the baby that was trying to hide from us.

"Okay seriously, can that really happen?" Naomi asked curiously.

"Yes it can happen and this is the prove, just look."

"I have to agree with Kaede," said Primula, "they do look cute and adorable, but which one of the two girls was playing the hide and seek game with you?"

"I think it's the second girl right here," I pointed to one of the pictures, "I think that's her."

"A girl after my own heart," said Naomi.

"Or maybe she's just trying to hide from your view," I joked.

"Hey!" she snapped.

"For such cute and adorable kids, you guys must have good names for them," said Daisy.

"Actually we don't," admitted Kaede, "Matthew and I had decided to wait till after the Ultra Sound appointment before discussing on possible names for our kids."

"Knowing Big Bro, he's probably going to pick the only two names he knows," giggled Naomi, "he's so predicatable."

"Daisy," I said to my sister, "I'm too far away from her, do you mind?"

"What?" Naomi asked. She soon found out as Daisy walked up behind her and whacked her in the back of her head, "hey! Alright I'm sorry. I'm sure you guys will come up with great names for them...and seriously Daisy, you didn't need to do that!"

"Oh but I did," she said with a sly grin.

Kaede and I tried to hide the fact that we were laughing, but Naomi saw us and gave us a nasty look.

Later in the evening, I was working on making dinner while Kaede watched from the table. As part of the doctor's orders, Kaede had to stay off her feet and not do any hard work until after she gave birth.

I was nearly done when Daisy came back into the room, "hey guys, you might want to come upstaris for a moment, there's something up there you have to see."

"What is it Daisy?" Kaede asked.

"It's...uh...well come upstairs and I'll show you, cause I don't know how to describe it."

Primula took over the cooking while Kaede and I followed Daisy up the stairs to Kaede's former bedroom. When we got up there, we found one of the floorboards sitting on Daisy's bed, "I was cleaning up underneath the bed when I noticed this loose floorboard," Daisy was saying, "I pulled it up to see where the joists were so I can glue it down and that's when I found this..."

She reached into the hole and pulled out one of the ugliest dolls I had ever seen, "yikes," I gasped.

"This was your room at one time Kaede, do you remember seeing this doll?"

"Yes I remember seeing that doll Daisy," she answered, "that used to be my doll, but I lost it when I was five years old..." she then looked back to me, "can you go back to our room and get the photo album from my early childhood years?"

"Sure Kaede," I said and went back to our room.

I looked threw the bookcase and soon found the photo album Kaede was asking for, then I ran back to Daisy's room and handed it to Kaede, "I think my mom took a picture of...there it is," said Kaede after looking threw the pages, "That's me with the doll."

"Looks like it was in better shape than it is now," said Daisy as she looked back at the doll, "I hate to say this, but she's about the ugliest thing I have ever seen."

"How did you lose that doll anyways Kaede?" I asked.

"I don't know...unless..."

"Unless what?" Daisy asked.

"Well I remember at one time, my mom and dad were replacing the hardwood floors in my room because the originals were old and rotten, but I don't know how it could've ended up down there."

"Well maybe it fell from your bed and fell between the joists before one of your parents sealed that area up," suggested Daisy.

"That's probably it, cause I know my mom and dad would never get rid of my favourite doll on purpose."

"I'm sure it wasn't on purpose Kaede," I said, "in fact, I'm sure your dad will be surprised when you tell him this...still, it's amazing how something like this doll could easily be destoryed by time and mice by the looks of these bite marks."

"I have to agree," said Daisy, "cause from what I can see in the photograph, it looked like a beautiful doll..." then she looked at the real doll again, "but that thing looks too far gone to be fixed and look good again."

"Yes, it is a shame," sighed Kaede.

We went back downstairs and after thanking Primula for watching over the dinner, we told her of what Daisy found, "this I got to see," said Primula and went upstairs to see it for herself.

While I went back to working on our dinner, Kaede made a call to her father.

"Hi Daddy, yes Matthew and I did go for that ultra sound today. We're going to have three kids, one boy and two girls. Thank you daddy...yes I will," she then spoke to me, "he said congratulations to both of us."

"Tell him I said 'thanks'."

"Matthew says 'thanks', oh and Daddy, do you remember that doll I had till I was almost six years old? Well Daisy found it underneath the floorboards in between the joists. It's hair is a mess...actually, it's all a mess. Yes I'm serious, it was there for many years. Oh okay..." she spoke to me again, "he says he must've knocked it over years ago."

"Well accidents do happen."

"Yeah that's what my dad said," she then spoke to her father, "it's okay daddy, I'm not mad, I'm just glad to finally know where it went. Okay daddy, we'll talk to you later, okay bye."

Just as she hung up, Naomi and Primula came back into the kitchen, "for crying out loud, that thing is ugly," said Naomi, "and I swear it was watching my every move."

"Well maybe she likes you Little Sis," I said with a sly grin.

"Ha-ha, very funny Big Bro," she said sarcastically as she sat down at her spot at the table. "Now you won't believe this, but Daisy says she's going to keep that thing."

"She's going to keep it?" I asked, sounding completely surprised, "why would she do that?"

"Would you dare get rid of her?" Daisy asked as she came into the kitchen, "besides, I can probably clean her up and maybe make her just as beautiful as before."

"You're going to fix her up?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to do that."

"You're crazy, you'll never be able to fix that doll," said Naomi, "I rather get rid of that piece of garbage."

"In case you've forgotten Naomi, that was Kaede's doll at one time and I'm not going to get rid of her. I'm going to make her just as beautiful as she was once before...but just remember, she's always watching you, so don't try anything."

"I think she's learned a little too much from me," I thought to myself.

"Well if you can pull it off Daisy, then you can keep the doll," said Kaede.

"Really? Well thanks Kaede and I promise I'll take good care of her."

"You'll never be able to pull it off," muttered Naomi.

"You wait and see," Daisy said firmly to her, "I'll prove you wrong again."

Later on that evening, we were getting ready for bed. As Naomi walked past Daisy's room, she looked in and saw that doll on Daisy's desk, "I still swear it's watching my every move," she muttered.

In our room, I had already gotten changed into my pajamas and was talking with my friends on the Sodor Island Forums while Kaede was resting on our bed. Of course, like always, I was telling them about our day.

"You didn't tell me that Daisy is Sia's cousin," said Jamesfan's message.

"Really? I thought I told you guys that once before, I guess I forgot," I replied back, "now onto different news, Kaede and I just found out we're going to have triplets in a month or so."

"Triplets?" said Warrior's message with a shocking look at the end of the question.

"Lucky guy," said Sierracat27's message, "are they all boys or girls?"

"They're not all the same," I replied back, "we're going to have one son and two daughters."

"Holy cow!" said Anime Boy's message with the same shocked look that Warrior had posted before, "I've never heard of something like that happening before...I'm just...well I...I'm speechless," was all his message said.

"To have three little bundles of joy," said Metamorphical's messages, "it's a real miricle. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we're all very happy for you and Kaede."

"Thanks Niki and I'll tell Kaede that."

That's excatly what I did, then Kaede asked me to tell them that she said 'thanks' too. Next, I told them about what Daisy found and what she was going to do with that doll, then after we were done talking, I checked out the forums for a little bit and read a new volume of the Extended Railway Series.

When I was done reading that book, I logged off, shut down the computer, then climbed into bed next to Kaede.

"Ready to go to sleep Kaede?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "I'll see you in the morning Matthew."

"I'll see _you_ in the morning Kaede," I said with a wink as per usual. Of course Kaede giggled, "I love you."

"And I love too," she said and leaned up towards me for a kiss on the lips. We kissed for thirty seconds, then we both looked down to Kaede's stomach, "and we love you three too," we both said to our kids.

With our good nights said, we closed our eyes and went happily to sleep, dreaming of spending some family time with our son and our two daughters.


	54. Kareha's New Boyfriend

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 54: Kareha's New Boyfriend**_

It was a chilly day the following next day (Monday February 27th 2012), but despite the cold, the students still had to go to school and adults have to go to work, which is where I was heading that morning.

I arrived at my usual time, at around seven thirty, and found Sakura setting everything up for today's show, "morning Sakura!" I called to her, "how come you're setting everything up by yourself? Where's Al?"

"Al called, he's not coming into work today."

"Why? Is he sick?"

"No, but his wife is," she answered, "earlier this morning, Sana woke up feeling qutie sick in the stomach and then she threw up on her side of the bed."

"Yuck," I muttered.

"So Al is going to stay home today and look after his wife while I help you out with the show today. Now, you don't have to worry, I've read all of Al's notes and I know just what to say when we go on the air."

"That's good to hear," I smiled as I went backstage.

This week, we were going to be talking about tools that were used long before electric tools were invented and we were also going to show how these tools were used by making various demostrations to the crowds.

After getting my winter gear off, I brought out the last of the boxes up to the set.

"So how was your weekend Sakura?"

"It was okay, we spent most of the weekend just doing some clean up jobs around the house...and in my room too," she chuckled nervously, "it really was a mess in there."

"Probably not as messy as my old bedroom in my old house used to be," I chuckled quietly.

"Probably not. So how was your weekend?"

"It was okay, we got some interesting surprises yesterday," and while we continued to work, I told Sakura everything that happened the day before. Like with our sisters, I saw the same look on Sakura's face after telling her about the babies, "better get used to that look," I thought to myself, "cause Kaede and I are going to be getting that look alot when we tell the news to people."

And of course Sakura had to laugh when I told her that Naomi thought the doll Daisy found was watching her.

After all the chit-chatting, we finished up the last of our work and got ready to go on the air.

Later that day, sometime after three, our three sisters were returning home with several bags of groceries. We had done our grocery shopping on the Friday night last week, but this food wasn't for us, it was for the Baby shower party that was going on tomorrow evening.

"Did Kaede have to write so much onto that one list?" groaned Naomi, "I feel like my arms are going to fall off."

"Well we did tell you that we can take some of those bags, but you insisted on carrying them," said Daisy.

"As I recall, you said, 'I'll carry all those bags, it won't be any trouble at all'," said Primula, 'and I won't complain about it.' "

"So stop complaining back there!" called Daisy.

Naomi shot Daisy a nasty stare, but Daisy pretended that Naomi wasn't giving her the look.

Naomi though wasn't really paying any attention to what she was doing and tripped over a small snowbank and fell face first into the snow, "ow," she groaned.

Primula and Daisy heard the 'ow' and ran back to see if Naomi was okay, "are you alright Little Sis?" Primula asked.

"Well let's see, I tripped over something and I fell face first into the snow, what do you think?" she snapped.

"She's fine," said Daisy, "next time you should really pay attention to what you're doing Naomi and let us carry some of the bags."

"Fine whatever, just give me a hand here."

Someone did lend a hand, but it wasn't Daisy or Primula. When Naomi looked, she saw a man probably around the age of 25, helping her to pick up all the split groceries. It didn't take them long and they soon had everything back in the bags.

"Be careful next time young one," he said kindly and rubbed the top of her head gently.

Naomi normally doesn't like it when someone rubs the top of her head, but she didn't say anything aganist it this time around. The man smiled at her, then he walked away.

"Well that was nice of that man to help us out," said Daisy.

"Yeah it was," then Primula turned back to Naomi, "you don't like when people mess up your hair, why didn't you say anything like you normally do?"

"I don't know, for some reason I didn't want to yell at the man."

"Besides it would've been rude of you to do that...but then again," Daisy added with a chuckle, "you're often quite rude to people."

"Hey!" snapped Naomi, "I am not rude!"

"Sure you're not," Daisy said disbelievingly. She grabbed hold of one of Naomi's bags, then continued on her way.

"No wonder they call her the 'female Matthew'," Naomi muttered to Primula, "she's like him in every way."

"Yeah I know," Primula sighed as she rolled her eyes. Once they had picked up the remaining bags, they ran to catch up with Daisy, "by the way, you forgot to thank the man for helping you."

"Oh well, maybe I'll meet up with him again someday and then I'll thank him then."

The three sisters soon reached the house, just five minutes after I had arrived, "what happened to you Little Sis?" I asked when they came in, "you look you've been in a snowball fight."

"No she wasn't," said Daisy, "she tripped and dropped her bags, serves her right for carrying too many bags."

Naomi shot her another angry stare, "were you hurt?" Kaede asked kindly.

"No not really, luckily the snow was soft enough to break my fall," Naomi answered.

"And lucky for us that you weren't carrying the breakables," snickered Daisy.

"Oh shut up baka!" snappped Naomi.

"Okay you two that's quite enough," I said firmly, "there's no need to start an argument. The good news is that Little Sis wasn't hurt when she fell and you got all the groceries we need for tomorrow's baby shower."

"Yeah Big Sis made sure of that."

"We walked around the store a couple of times to just make sure we had everything," she said, "and we do. Nothing on that list was left behind."

"Good," Kaede smiled, "and thank you for getting the groceries."

"It was our pleasure to help," smiled Daisy, "is there anything else we can help with?"

"Well you can help me get everything set up in the living room," I said.

Once the food had been put away, we all went over to the living room to get it ready for tomorrow afternoon.

The following next afternoon (February 28th 2012), was the baby shower for both Kaede and Asa. All the girls they knew were attending this little shower and giving the two girls plenty of gifts for their children yet to be born.

"This gift is from both myself and Kikyou," Sia said as she handed the gifts to Kaede and Asa.

Kaede and Asa unwrapped the gifts, being careful not to destory the wrapping paper, then they lifted the lids off the boxes and looked to see what was inside them. "Aww," Kaede smiled, "little footy pajamas."

"That's right," smiled Sia, "you got three of them Kaede, one in blue and two in pink and Asa, you got the pink one for your daughter."

"Oh thank you Sia and you too Kikyou, I'm sure my daughter will love it."

"So will my children," Kaede smiled.

"I still we should've gotten the black ones," muttered Kikyou darkly.

"What is it with you and black clothing lately?" asked Sia firmly, "that's all you seem to wear!"

"I like wearing black, you got a problem with that?!"

"Okay that's enough you two," said Nerine, "we don't need you to start another argument like you always do." Right away, the two girls stopped arguing and went silent at once.

At that moment, the living room door was opened and who should come into the room but yours truely.

"I'm sorry to intrude on your baby shower ladies, I just need to pick up my train book that I left underneath the table."

"You're not intruding Matthew," said Erica, "you're more than welcome to join in, you're the father of Kaede's children after all."

"Yeah that's true and I would love to stay, but I promised the Sutton Twins that I would go over to their place and help with some painting jobs they've been meaning to take care of."

"Then what do you want the book for?" Sia asked.

"For referrances," I answered, "I'm now doing artworks on locomotives, mostly steam engines and these pictures and information will help me to create realistic pictures...which will also answer Little Sis's question of what's in the bag, it's full of art supplies."

"How the heck does he know these things?" Naomi asked in surprise.

"Maybe he's a mind reader," giggled Daisy. Naomi shot her an angry stare again, but didn't say anything as she didn't want to make a scene.

I reached under the table and grabbed my train book. Then as I was about to walk out, two other people came up to the living room door. One of them had long blonde hair and had short pointy ears like Daisy and Sia, it was Kareha.

"That's him!" cried Naomi, "That's the man we met yesterday!"

The man she was talking about had jet black hair and wore a dark brown jacket and a pair of dark blue jeans, he had come in with Kareha and was carrying a box of presents.

"You two know each other?" Kareha asked the jet black haired man.

"As a matter we do," the man answered, "we met yesterday afternoon after she had accidently tripped and dropped all of her groceries. I stopped to help her pick them up."

"And I want to thank you for that," said Naomi, "and I'm sorry I didn't say it to you sooner."

"That's alright, you don't need to apologize," he said kindly.

"Who's your new friend Kareha?" Kaede asked curiously.

"Well Kaede, and everyone here in the room, this is my new boyfriend, Mr. Daichi Kirishima."

"A pleasure it is to meet all of you," he said in a kind way, then he looked over to me, "and if I had to guess, you're Matthew Gagnon, husband of the girl named Kaede and host of 'Tech Corner' right?"

"Yeah that would be me," I nodded.

Kareha then introduced Daichi to the rest of her friends in the room and they all said it was an honor to meet him, "you never told me you had a boyfriend Kareha," said Asa, "When did you two meet?"

"We met back in Flora one day when Sia and I were working a double shift, remember that day Sia?"

"How can I forget? I thought I was going to pass out that day."

"Well it was on that day that I officially met Daichi. I was bringing him a sundie and I tripped over a little kid's toy that was on the floor, I thought I was going to hit the edge of the table, but luckily he caught me and stopped me from banging my head and then..." she paused, but never finished. Mostly because she started glowing and saying 'oh la la' while blushing a bright shade of red.

"And she's gone again," sighed Asa, "That's something you're going to be seeing alot of," she said to Daichi.

"I know that," he nodded, "but that's okay, I don't mind if she does that."

"Well since Kareha's _lighted _like a Christmas tree, would you mind telling us what happened next?" asked Naomi.

"Of course I'll tell you," he said, "I helped her to her feet, then she thanked me for saving her and got me a free sundie to replace the one that had been ruined when she tripped. Afterwords, we sat down at the table and started talking, mostly about who we were and about our lives and we soon became good friends."

"Over time," he continued, "our bond just grew stronger right up to the point where we were starting to fall in love and just five days ago, we told each other our feelings and we became a couple."

"How sweet," said Ms. Ama and Sia in unison.

At that moment, we heard a cell phone ring, "excuse me one second," said Daichi, "that's for me." He pulled out his cell phone and answered it, "hello? Oh hi sweetie...no I'm just dropping off Kareha at the Gagnon/Fuyou house, I'm coming to get you right now. Okay, I love you too sweetheart, bye."

"Sweetheart?" Naomi asked with a raised eyebrow, "who was that? Another girlfriend?"

"Naomi!" Daisy, Primula and I snapped in unison.

"Oh no that's not another girlfriend, that's just my daughter Lenalee calling me to see if I'm coming to pick her up. I'm sorry that I have to cut this meeting short. It was nice meeting you all and I'll see you later," and with that, Daichi turned and walked away.

"I guess I better get going too," I said, "I'll see you later Kaede."

"Yeah, I'll see you later Matthew," she said with her cute angel like smile showing. I leaned down and gave her a kiss on the right side of her face, then I turned and walked out of the room and past Kareha, who was still glowing and saying 'oh la la'.

I returned at around seven thirty, which was around the time that everyone was leaving. "Nice paintjob Big Bro!" Naomi said cheekily to me, "did you get any of that paint on the wall?"

"Yes I got the paint on the wall," I muttered sarcastically, "the little paintjob on me was the result of me not stirring the paint in the cans enough."

"Well at least you got everything done, right?" Kaede asked kindly.

"Yeah, we got everything done," I nodded, "so how was the baby shower my dear sweet wife?"

Kaede blushed when I said 'dear sweet wife', "it was very good, both Asa and I got alot of interesting stuff for the kids. Like these footy pajamas from Sia and Kikyou, they're really soft and look very comfortable."

"Yeah they do look comfortable and soft too."

"And then there's Kareha's gift, she gave us the rotating wheels to put above the cribs," and Kaede showed me the one that Kareha gave us with little creatures with big grins hanging from strings.

"Daichi said that those rotating wheels really help a baby to fall asleep, so that's why we got them," said a voice from behind me. I turned and saw Kareha standing right behind me.

"Well it's very lovely and I'm sure the babies will like that," I said, "thank you for getting it."

"You're welcome."

"Kareha!" called another voice from the doorway.

"I'm in the living room Daichi!" she called back.

Daichi soon appeared in the doorway with a little girl, roughly around six or seven years old. She also had jet hair just like her father, only it went down to her shoulders and wore a little blue dress underneath her black jacket.

"This is my daughter Lenalee, she's six years old."

"Hello," she said sweetly.

"Hello Lenalee, it's nice to meet you," Kaede said kindly to her, "I'm Kaede Gagnon and this is my husband Matthew."

"It's nice to meet you Lenalee," I added kindly.

When Naomi came into the room and saw little Lenalee, she just had to ask Daichi a question, "how can you have a daughter if you were single before meeting Kareha?"

"Well I did have a girlfriend once...uh..." he paused and looked down to his daughter.

Daisy came into the room and saw the little kid and saw how nervous Daichi looked, "does your daughter like dolls?" she asked. Daichi nodded and so did Lenalee, "Well in that case, why don't you come up to my room and we can play dolls."

"What do you say sweetheart?" Daichi asked his daughter.

"Yay! I love dolls!" she cheered and ran towards Daisy.

"Alright then, just follow me." And that's what Lenalee did, she followed Daisy away from the living room and up the stairs to her room. Once they were out of sight, Daichi began his story.

"As I was saying, I did have a girlfriend throughout senior high school, I thought she'd be the love of my life forever," he said, "and she believed the same for me. We had a normal relationship, but one night we just couldn't keep our hands off each other if you know what I mean."

We did know, but said nothing and let Daichi continue.

"Well a few weeks later, she came up to me all angry and saying it was my fault. I asked her of what was wrong and she told me that she was pregnant because of me. At first, I thought she was upset because she would have to raise the child alone, so I told her that I was going to help her raise it, but that wasn't the reason she was upset."

" 'I never wanted children', she said to me, 'and now I got one inside of me and it's all your fault you dumb baka!' "

"Is that what she really said?" Naomi piped up.

"Actually I'm cleaning up the language so you of all and my daughter don't hear those words, she can hear quite well," he answered and then continued, "what she said next took me by surprise, she said she wanted the child aborted."

"Say what?" I exclaimed while Kaede covered her mouth, it's what she did when she was shocked over something.

"What does that mean?" Naomi asked.

"You don't know?" Daichi asked. Naomi shook her head, Daichi looked out of the living room and then turned to answer the question, "it means to kill the child from inside the stomach."

"Oh God!" she exclaimed, "that's terrible."

"It is and thankfully, I was able to talk her out of it and she gave birth to little Lenalee nine months later, but still she wasn't happy," he sighed, "I thought she would warm up to the idea of being a parent, but instead she said that she wanted Lenalee to be removed from her life forever by any means necessary."

"Doesn't sound like the perfect mate for you," blurted out Naomi and for once, I had to agree with her.

"I was thinking the same thing at that time," he continued, "and when I said I was going to keep Lenalee, she yelled at me and told us to get out of her life forever and we did. Now I live with Lenalee in my mother's place for the time being until I can afford our own place."

He sighed at that moment, "but I'll do it the honest way."

"What do you mean by that?" Kaede asked curiously.

"Well less than three years ago, Lenalee had a really bad tooth and she had to have a filling put in. It was very expensive, so I asked a friend if he could help me and he loaned me the money without thinking for a second, I found it a bit odd at first, but then I thought it was because he was a caring friend...it turned out though that he owed that money to the mob and when they heard I used it, they came after me."

"That must've been scary," said Primula.

"And indeed it was, but not as scary as what happened next. The police pulled up to my house, hoping to arrest these members of the mob, but they didn't want to go down without a fight and so a huge gun battle went off outside the house...don't worry, Lenalee and my mother weren't in the house at the time, but the mob lost the fight and everyone was arrested, including me, they thought I was part of the gang."

Naomi's eyes popped wide open in surprise, "he went to jail?" she gasped.

"I stayed in jail for quite a while until they found out that I was not part of the gang and they released me. Ever since, I've been working really hard so that I can give my daughter everything she needs."

At that moment, a young figure came back into the living room and wrapped herself around Daichi's leg.

"Can we go home daddy?" She asked sweetly, "I'm hungry."

"Sure sweetheart we can go. Are you all set Kareha?"

"Yeah I'm all set," she nodded.

"Alright then," then he turned his attention to us, "it was a pleasure to meet you all, I hope we can talk again someday."

"Oh I'm sure we will," Kaede and I said in unison. We stared at each other and once again we chuckled.

Daichi chuckled as well, "you were right, those two do think alike," and after saying good night, Kareha, Daichi and Lenalee left for his car.

Once they had left the house, Naomi spoke up, "he was in jail, you better get that sword of yours ready Big Bro."

"And why would you say that?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh come on, have you not learned from past experiences? The people that you know that have gone to jail come back really nasty and want to kill you and everyone you know."

"That's only for the insane ones like Charlie Banks and Poison Ivy, that's not true for all of them. Look at Patrick and Ryan, they were in jail at one time and now look at them. They're both working at different jobs and they each have a girlfriend."

"Not Ryan," said Daisy, who had just come back into the room, "he and Emily broke up remember?"

"Oh yeah I forgot about that," I groaned, "but still you get my point, don't you Little Sis? Not everyone who goes to jail is insane, some like Daichi is a kind man who cares a great deal about his daughter and would do anything for her."

"Or to her."

I sighed and slapped my forehead, "this is not going to be like what happened with Charlie Banks. I know cause the look on his face showed that he is a caring man and a good father to Lenalee."

"I'll believe that when I see it."

"Need I remind you Little Sis of a certain incident where you and someone else were arguing aganist each other? Hmm? Do you remember that one? Cause I sure do."

Naomi paused, she knew which moment I was talking about. It was the infamous fight she and Primula had back in October which seperated them for almost a whole month, "okay I guess I shouldn't jump to conclusions like that before getting to know someone."

"That's the spirit," I smiled, "now, help me clean up the dishes."

"Yes sir," she said like a soldier. She picked up some plates, then she walked like a soldier back to the kitchen.

"Same old Little Sis," I chuckled quietly. Kaede chuckled too as Primula and I grabbed some plates and took them all back to the kitchen.


	55. It's How You Play the Game

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 55: It's How You Play the Game**_

After everything had cleaned up and everyone had left, Naomi went up to her room to work on her homework. Although there were some things she didn't understand at first, she managed to finish everything that she had been assigned and managed to learn everything she needed to learn.

"Dammit," she groaned afterwords, "that homework gives me a stupid sized headache and hand cramps."

"It's not that hard," called a voice from one of the rooms across the hallway from her room. It was coming from Daisy's room. Daisy had already finished her homework and now she was working on the doll.

"That's easy for you to say, you're a genius when it comes to school work...but you're not a genius at everything," she eyed the doll.

"Still freaked out by the doll?" Daisy smirked.

"Yeah I'm still freaked out by it, I swear it _is_ watching me. I still say you should get rid of that doll and buy a better one."

"Is that your answer for everything? Out with the old and in with the new?"

"When it comes to creepy dolls like that piece of crap, then yeah I say bring in the new and get rid of the old."

"Forget it Naomi, I said that I can restore this doll and that's what I'm going to do. Nothing you say or do will get me to change my mind, now if you'll excuse me, I got to get back to work."

"Sure, whatever," Naomi muttered and walked away from the room, "she's definetly Matthew's sister, she's stubborn just like him."

She walked down the stairs and walked up to the living room door. She was about to turn the door handle when she heard "Go Leafs Go! Go Leafs Go!"

"Big Bro?"

She turned the door handle and walked into the room to see Kaede and myself watching a hockey game, "hey Naomi," said Kaede, "did you get all of your homework done?"

"Yeah I did," she nodded, then she asked me, "why were you shouting Big Bro?"

"I was cheering on my favourite hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs," I answered, "they're playing tonight."

"A hockey team?" she looked at the television screen and saw a hockey game on, "I didn't know you were interested in hockey Big Bro."

"Well I am, I've always been a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs ever since I went to a hockey game back in 2003 and ever since then, I've been watching all their games."

"Wow, I didn't know that about you...but I'm sure Kaede knew that, am I right Kaede?"

"That would be correct Naomi," Kaede nodded, "Matthew told me on..."

"The Chatroom," she interupted, "it seems to me that he told you everything on the chatroom. Still, how are we getting the Toronto Maple Leafs game? We live in Japan, not Canada."

"It comes in our satalite package," Kaede answered, "we can get any hockey game in the world."

"Just like how we can get many of the Canadian and American channels," I added.

"Ah okay I get it now." Naomi walked over to the chair and sat down to watch a bit of the hockey game with us. We remained silent as we watched the game (except when we said 'Go Leafs go' when they had the puck). During the next commercial break, Naomi spoke up once again, "have you ever played hockey before Big Bro?"

"Not on ice no, but I've played the game in Patrick's neighbourhood at one time."

"Have you ever been on the ice?"

"Yeah I've been on the ice, but it's been years since I last skated on the ice. Why do you ask Little Sis?"

"Oh I'm just being curious that's all," she answered, "you know me Big Bro."

"Yeah we do," Kaede and I said in unsion. We looked at each other again and chuckled, just before Kaede felt some kicking coming from her stomach.

"Maybe your kids are interested in hockey too," said Naomi.

"Maybe," said Kaede and rubbed the top of her belly softly.

The following next day (Wednesday February 29th 2012 - a Leap Day), Al and I were showing the audiance of how you can make wooden sculptures with powerless tools like a chisel, "it might take you a great deal of time, but with a little bit of patience and a lot of effort, you can create a great sculpture."

"Like this one here," I shouted from back stage.

Al moved out of the way as Sakura and I brought out a huge wooden sculpute of an elephant, "thank you Sakura."

"Always glad to help," she said.

"This sculpture you see here was made using only chisels and alot of days to make," I said, "according to the owners of this sculpture, this took roughly around one year and five months to make this. They said it was a worth it and they are actually in the process of making a sculpture of a Tiger."

"We have a video showing them in action," said Al, "why don't we go to the tape now?"

"And cut!" called Sakura. Our cameras were turned off and the video started playing for everyone who was watching the show.

"Sorry I couldn't come in over the last few days Matthew," Al said to me.

"It's quite alright Al, you were looking after your wife and it's like I always say, loved ones are more important than work," I said, "so how is Sana doing right now?"

"She's doing quite well, she's still got a bit of sniffles, but at least she's not throwing up like she was doing before."

"That's good to hear," I smiled.

"Okay guys, we're back on the air in five...four...three...two...one!" shouted Sakura and pointed towards us. The cameras turned back on and pointed right at us (just for the record, we could see what the video was showing, so we knew of what was going on).

"It's interesting don't you think?" I asked the audience, "as we had been saying, with a little patience and a lot of effort, you can make a large wooden block look like anything, even a tiger."

Our demostrations continued on throughout the rest of the day until the show was done for the day and we were ready to clean up.

"I'm sorry guys, but I got to head out right now," Al said to Sakura and myself, "I got to go home and help get the refreshments ready for the Little Princess Hockey team."

"The what now?" Sakura asked, sounding confused to what she heard.

"The Little Princess hockey team, they are part of the kid's hockey league and both my wife and I are in charge of bringing refreshments and treats to them after practice rounds. I hope you don't mind if I have to leave?"

"Nah we don't mind," I said. Sakura nodded in agreement with me, "have a good time out tonight and we'll see you tomorrow."

"Right, see you tomorrow," he called and ran out off the set and out the door.

"I didn't know he and his wife were in charge of bringing refreshments to the little hockey team," said Sakura, "I didn't even know about that hockey team."

"Neither did I," I said, "and to think I've been living in this city since 2009. We learn something new everyday," Sakura agreed with me as we continued to work until everything was finally put away.

Afterwords, I went out to the hockey arena to see this hockey team for myself and of course, before arriving at the place, I phoned Kaede to inform her of where I was going to. Out on the ice were the Little Princess hockey team, they were playing five on five aganist each other and practicing each move and at the other side of the arena were Al and Sana with the refreshments.

"Impressive," I said as I watched the team.

"Alright Chelsea, now try using your back hand to get that puck into the net!" called the voice of the coach. I recognized the voice right away, I took a look over to the player's box and saw who it was.

"Daichi?" I gasped.

"Huh?" he asked and looked to my direction, "Well if it isn't Matthew Gagnon, I didn't expect to see you here tonight."

"Nor did I expect to see you here," I said, "what are you doing here?"

"Just one second, I need to watch this..." he looked back to the ice and watched as the girl named Chelsea shot a puck right into the net. However, it was caught by the goalie.

"Sorry coach!" she called.

"Nah that's okay, you're actually improving since you first joined the team," Daichi called kindly to her. The one named Chelsea smiled when she heard that. Daichi then called out, "okay team, I want you to do some skating exercises for a bit, then you can get your refreshments."

"Yes coach!" they all called and began doing skating exercises around the ice.

"So you're the coach of the Little Princess' team huh?" I asked.

"Yep," he nodded, "I've been their coach for a couple of years now ever since the last coach was fired...she was only concerned about winning instead of showing these girls how to have a good time."

"It's not about winning or losing, it's how you play the game," I said wisely.

"Kareha wasn't kidding, you are wise at times," he said, "and you're correct. Since I took over as the coach, my daughter, her friends and their parents have been happy and they're having a good time during the practice runs."

"Well that's good to hear," I smiled.

Daichi then pulled out a whistle and blew it, which got all the girl's attentions, "alright girls, go get your refreshments and then come back here, I have something important to talk to you about."

His team did what they were told, they got their juice from Al and Sana, then they skated over towards their coach.

"What's up coach?" one of the little girls asked.

"Well tomorrow night, we're going to be playing our first game aganist the Tokyo Punchers," the girls gulped when they heard that name, "you got nothing to worry about, you've been doing so well with your practice sessions and you've been improving, you've got what it takes to face off aganist them."

"But Daddy, those punchers are dangerous, they punch, they kick, they get away with everything they do."

"Well that's not going to happen this time, I've already had a discussion with their coach and they have promised to stop that nonsense, plus the referees will keep an eye out for rough players."

"Our last coach said that and we ended up getting pounded," groaned another girl.

"Well that was then and this is now," said Daichi. "Now put a smile on those smiles and remember to have fun."

"Yes daddy," said Lenalee happily, "come on girls, let's play!"

And with that, the girls went back out to the ice to practice some more.

"I certainly hope that they behave themselves," Daichi sighed quietly, but loud enough that I and Kareha, who had just arrived, could hear him.

"Well you won't know until tomorrow," she said kindly.

"That's true," he nodded and looked back out to the ice to keep an eye on his players.

I watched the team for a few more minutes, then I left for the house again.

Later that evening, I was working on dinner and having some conversations with Kaede, our three sisters and Marshall (who by the way has been living with us ever since he was 'thrown' out by his own family.)

"Those little girls were playing like a team out on the ice," I was saying, "but after Daichi mentioned that they were going up aganist the Tokyo Punchers, they all started to look worried."

"And they have every right ta worry," said Marshall, " 'em plokes live up to their name and that hasn't changed since they got their current coach."

"How do you know that Marshall?" Kaede asked.

"Me brother Curtis was part of that team for a long time before he was kicked out for being 'too rough'. I saw with me own two eyes of how rough that team can really be. Their moto is 'Win at All Costs' and sometimes they take it literally."

"Those little girls are doomed," Naomi said darkly, "but then again, they were already doomed with Daichi as their coach."

"Shut up Naomi!" snapped Daisy and rolled her eyes, "weren't you listening to Big Bro at all last night?" But Naomi didn't answer.

"Just let her go in her own delusional way," I said, "she's going have to learn everything for herself. Besides, with the way those girls were playing today, they're sure to give those Tokyo Punchers a run for their money."

The next evening (Thursday March 1st 2012), Daichi and the Little Princesses team were ready to play aganist their arch rivals 'The Tokyo Punchers'. Lots of people, which included Kaede, Naomi and myself were in the stands ready to cheer the princesses on. Primula, Daisy and Marshall were too busy so they couldn't make it.

"Good luck tonight Princesses," Kareha said kindly to the girls, "You'll do great tonight."

Suddenly, the Tokyo Punchers came onto the ice in battle cries, "hey Princesses, you might want to give up tonight!" they taunted, "cause if you don't, we're going to kick your asses!"

"How rude," gasped Kaede.

"Yeah Marshall told me that last night after our conversation," said Naomi.

"Don't listen to them girls," Daichi said kindly to the Princesses, "just remember your training and remember to have fun."

"Yes coach," said the girls with such determination in their voices.

The door opened and the girls slid out onto the ice. Lenalee skated towards the referee and the other team's first player. They got into postion, the referee dropped the puck and the game began.

"And here they go ladies and gentleman," shouted the announcer, "the princesses have got hold of the puck. Chelsea now passes it to Lenalee and back to Chelsea, but Randell has stolen the puck. He's now skating along the ice, getting close to the net, he shoots and..." one of the Punchers skated up to the goalie and blew ice shavings in her face, "he scores!"

The puck went into the net and the red light went on right away.

"Dammit," groaned Naomi, but went silent at once when she saw everyone looking at her angerily, "sorry."

"That can't be right," said Kaede, "The goalie couldn't see the puck, so how could she stop it?"

"She can't, remember what Marshall said, they'll do anything to win."

"It's okay girls!" called Daichi, "it's just one goal, just do your best out there!"

The girls tried again as they got control of the puck and skated down the ice, passing the puck to another player like they should. Just as Chelsea got control of the puck, a big guy from the other team charged at her and shoulder punched her, making her fall off her feet.

"Hey!" cried a person in the stands, "you can't do that!"

"Oh shut up!" snapped the Puncher's coach, "it's perfectly normal in a hockey game for a little rough housing!"

Chelsea got back to her feet and the game continued. She skated along and soon managed to steal the puck back for her team, "now Chelsea's got the puck and she passes it to Lenalee who passes it to Kira and back to Lenalee, she shoots...oh, it went over the glass and out of play."

The referee's whistle blew and the players came back to the centre, "good try girls!" called Daichi, "you're training is paying off!"

Kira and another player joined the referee in the middle of the arena, he dropped the puck and the punchers got control of it. He skated down the ice towards the net. The goalie was ready to block the goal, but the same player from before charged towards her and iced her, making it difficult to see and allowing the other player to score.

"And he scores again!" shouted the announcer, "the score's now two to nothing!"

"That's the way boys, kick their sorry asses and teach them that they have no place in this sport!" shouted the Puncher's coach.

"Well at least we now know of where those boys get their attitudes from," said Naomi.

"Yeah no kidding," I said, "their coach obviously doesn't know this is just a game, there's no need to be rough."

"Alright girls, come over here!" shouted Daichi and looked over to the referee, "Time out! Time Out!"

The referee called for a time out and the princesses skated over towards their coach, "sorry daddy, we're trying our best," groaned Lenalee, "but I guess we're losers after all."

"Don't say that sweetheart, you're doing quite well out there."

"I wish I was," groaned the goalie, "but I can't do anything when I can't see."

"But you are doing good out there," Daichi said kindly. "Next time they try that though, cover your eyes with your glove and look in a different direction so you'll be able to see the puck," then he looked to the rest of the team, "now just remember what I taught and do the best you can okay? Now go out there and have fun!"

"Yes coach!" shouted the little girls and skated back out to the ice.

"So what do you think of him now Little Sis?" I asked with a sly grin, "do you still think he's bad."

"The game hasn't finished yet, I'll let you know what I think later," she mutered.

"Very well then, I'll be waiting." Kaede giggled quietly before groaning over the kicking going on in her stomach.

Thanks to Daichi's advice, when the Punchers tried the same stunt as before, the goalie was able to keep the ice from blowing into her face and stop the puck from going into the princesses' net, "what a safe! She's stopped it from going in!"

She then passed the puck over to Lenalee, "good luck Lenalee!"

"Lenalee's now got the puck, she passes it over to Chelsea, who passes it to Kira and back to Lenalee..." everyone seemed to hold their breath as the girls charged towards the other goalie's net. He braced himself for Lenalee, "She shoots...no wait, she passes it to Kira and she shoots!" The goalie was not prepared and the puck went into the net, "and she scores! Kira scores a goal for the Tokyo Princesses!"

"What the fuck?!" exclaimed the Puncher's coach.

"Excellent girls, well done!" shouted Daichi.

The girls did quite well after that throughout the next three periods. The Princesses' goalie was able to block each puck and the ice the Punchers tried to blow in her face. As for the rest of the players, they did quite well in keeping the puck away from the Punchers and scored not once, not twice, but four more times till the score was at five to two.

"Very good team! Now come over for a chat! Time out! Time out!" he called out.

The Princesses came over to speak with the coach, "you've really pulled it off in the last three periods and I'm proud of you, but with only five minutes left in the game, those Punchers are not going to give up so easily."

"So what do we do? Coach?" Asked Lenalee.

Daichi smiled at his daughter, then he answered the question, "just keep doing what you're doing, but I want Miyamura and Mioshi on the defence near the net, you two seem to be good defence. Now go back out there and do your best again."

And with that, the girls returned to the ice.

It seemed though that the Puncher's coach was not too happy and shouting at his team. When they went back out onto the ice, they were madder than ever and the moment the puck was dropped, they charged at the one named Mioshi and puched her in the right side hard, making her fall flat onto the ice. Then as an extra insult, another player smacked her with his stick.

"Hey, that's not allowed!" cried Naomi, "you can't do that!" Most of the fans were shouting too.

"Oh shut up, it's perfectly allowed!" shouted the Puncher's coach.

The referee didn't agree with him and ordered the two players off the ice for a two minute penalty. Daichi jumped over the wall and ran over to see Mioshi, "are you okay sweetheart?" he asked.

"I think so," she groaned.

"See if you can try to get up." Mioshi was slow in getting up, but soon she was back on her feet and the crowd went wild upon seeing this, "now let's get you back to the bench."

"I can still play," she groaned again.

"It's sweet of you to offer, but you're hurt and I don't want to see you suffer out here. I'll get Nodoka out here to take your place."

Mioshi was disappointed, but she agreed with the coach's choice and skated off the ice. The one named Nadoka charged out to the ice and took her place and from that point onwards, the game continued. The punchers tried again to be ruthless, but despite their ways, they weren't winning. The goalie still blocked their efforts and the girls avoided their cheating ways.

"Now he shoots and she saves the puck and passes it to Lenalee!" shouted the announcer. There was only less than a minute left in the game and the girls were determined to score again. "Lenalee goes down the ice and passes the puck to Chelsea, who passes to Kira and back to Chelsea. Who will score?"

"Stop those brats!" snapped the Puncher's coach, "you have to win boys!"

"Come on girls, you've got this!" called Daichi.

"Chelsea passes it to Lenalee, she shoots..." it seemed like forever for that puck to reach the nut. The Puncher's goalie tried to stop it, but it went past him and into the net.

"And she scores!" A buzzer went off, signaling the end of the game and the victory of the Tokyo Princesses.

"I don't fucking believe this!" growled the Puncher's coach, but he was drowned out by the shouts and cheers of all the fans.

The girls were cheering too as they skated over towards their coach, "we won! We won!" they shouted.

"Well done girls, I'm really proud of you all," smiled Daichi, "despite everything they were doing, you really pulled it off with a six-two lead. I knew you could do it. Now get some juice and rest up, you've all earned it."

"Thanks coach," cheered all the girls and skated off to get some juice from Al and Sana.

Lenalee didn't skate away, she skated up to her father and hugged him, "I scored daddy, did you see that?"

"Yes I saw it and I'm extermly proud of you."

"And so am I," smiled Kareha, "well done Lenalee."

"Thanks...mommy," she smiled.

Kareha blushed when she heard that, "I'm not your mommy...yet," she chuckled nervously. Despite that, Lenalee skated up to Kareha and hugged her too. Daichi joined in on the hug, it certainly was a beautiful moment.

"Well Little Sis?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. Kaede looked at her with the same look.

"Okay so I was wrong...again," she muttered.

"Glad to hear you say that," and on that note, the three of us went on to cheering for the Tokyo Princesses, which was still drowing out the rants of the Puncher's coach. Which didn't sound polite at all.


	56. Taking Action

As you might have noticed in the previous two chapters, I did not start things off with an Author's Note like I did in the first two seasons of this series and in Our Kinda Trip, well that's because I didn't have too much to say at those given times. For this chapter, I do have somethings to say. For one; I hope you have enjoyed meeting Daichi and his six year old daughter 'Lenalee'. The reason I had put him into the series was not only to give Kareha a boyfriend of her very own, but it was also to prove that not every character that was in jail in this series is going to be a bad guy like Charlie Banks and Poison Ivy. Now in this chapter, we get introduced to a couple more new characters and see a common problem I'm sure everyone has faced at some point in their lives. Now the rating as per usual is the same as always with swearing included, the date of this chapter is Friday March 2nd 2012 and finally, I would like to dedicate this chapter to all my friends.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 56: Taking Action**_

It was the end of another busy day at school. A young bright yellow haired girl with red stripes in several strands was walking out of the classroom with her arms full of books. As she stepped out of the classroom though, someone stuck their foot out in front of her - she tripped over the foot and went face first to the ground.

"Ow," she groaned.

"Watch where you're going loser," snickered a voice. She looked behind her and saw that a boy had tripped her. It wasn't uncommon for him to do this cause he was always picking on her.

"I'm sorry," she said and began to pick up her books.

She hadn't noticed that the boy had snuck up behind her and was about to give her a hard kick to the back, "hey dummy, leave her alone," snapped another voice.

The boy looked and saw who the voice belonged to, it was Naomi.

"Stay out of this Fuyou, why don't you be a quiet girl like your older sister was?"

"Kaede was never quiet and besides, it's not in my nature to stay quiet." She then gave him a firm stare, "I'm not going to let you hurt her Flash, so why don't you get your sorry ass out of here?"

"You talk tough, but can you back it up?"

"Don't get into a fight with him," said the bright yellow haired girl, "it's none of your business."

"Now I know why my Big Brother hates it when people say, it's quite annoying," Naomi thought to herself before speaking up again, "it is my business when someone is being tormented by a stupid pain in the ass bully and in answer to your question Flash, I _can_ back up my words. Now, you can stay to find out if I'm telling the truth or you can leave without hurting my friend here."

"Fine I'll leave," he said, then he turned to the other girl, "You got lucky this time loser, but next time, no one will be able to protect you."

He turned and walked away. Naomi walked up to the girl, "are you alright Naoki? That was a nasty fall you had there."

"I'm fine," she said and went back to picking up her books. Being a kind person, Naomi helped her out until all the books had been picked up, "Thank you for the helping hand. I'll see you around."

She turned and walked away, just as Marshall showed up.

"Was that stupid ploke Flash bothering her again?"

"Sadly yes," Naomi groaned and watched as the girl walked away, "I can't understand why he would pick on her."

A little later that evening, I was working on dinner once again with Primula's help while Kaede was watching from the kitchen table. Primula was telling us about her day and just as she had finished, Daisy, Naomi and Marshall came into the room.

"Did you three finish all of your homework?" Kaede asked curiously.

"Yeah we got it done," Naomi answered, "it was tough, but everything is finally done...you know Kaede, for a second there, you actually sounded like a mother."

"Well there's a good reason for that Naomi," said Daisy, "she is going to be a mother soon don't forget."

"I haven't forgotten that," she giggled and so did Kaede and yours truely. "But there's one thing I wish someone at my school would forget, and that's to leave that poor girl alone."

"What are you talking about Little Sis?" Primula asked.

"Are you referring to Naoki, that young girl that's in your classroom?"

"Yes Kaede, I was talking about her and that dumb baka who keeps picking on her. I tell you, I was so close to getting into a fight with him."

"And why were you close to getting into a fight with him?" Daisy asked curiously, "it was not your problem."

"Hey I couldn't just stand by and let that dumb son of a b...baka," she corrected herself quickly, "hurt her. He was going to kick her from behind, so that's when I stepped in and told him to buzz off."

"Well ya didn't say it just like that," said Marshall.

"Hey I had to be firm with him."

I sighed and shook my head, "have you learned nothing from what we've been telling you?" I groaned, "when you're dealing with a bully, you have to walk away and ingore him."

"And then what? Leave Naoki to get hurt by this guy? I don't think so."

"You could've helped her up, then you both could walk away from him."

"Really? Cause that's not how you usually handle the situation Big Bro." I grunted under my breath, I didn't like being reminded of the fights I had been involved in the past.

"Matthew is right, it's better to walk away than to go home with bruises and cuts or worse," said Kaede.

"Fine," she huffed. Something inside me told me that Naomi wasn't really going to follow our advice at all. She was going to regret that decision real soon...

The following next afternoon, Naomi and Marshall were at the smaller mall doing some shopping. They had been bored throughout most of the morning with nothing to do, so now they were walking around and buying some stuff like Manga books in Naomi's case.

"Don't ya think you've got enough manga books already?" Marshall asked.

"No not really, I still think I need to get a few more before my collection is bigger than Big Bro's."

Marshall chuckled and shook his head. The two of them continued walking along until they came around another corner and saw, to their horror, Flash was picking on Naoki and shoving her hard.

"I said I want that book, give it to me!" he shouted.

"No, it's mine," groaned Naoki, "I just bought it."

"Yeah you bought it for me..." he gave her a huge punch to the left side of the face with his right hand. Poor Naoki fell backwards and her book went airborn until it was caught by Flash, "and now it's mine. Next time, give me what I want right away!"

"You dumb bastard!" shouted Naomi, who dropped her bags and charged at Flash with her right fist aimed right at him.

Flash heard her coming and spun round quickly, "hey Naomi, stop!" cried Marshall, but it was too late.

Flash hit her hard in the face and knocked her down too. Then he walked up to her and punched her right in the eye, "next time, stay out of my way loser!" snapped Flash and walked away.

"Naomi!" cried Shiori, who was walking around with Yukie.

"Oh my gosh, are you alright Naomi?" Yukie asked. Naomi groaned in pain and had her right hand over her right eye, "help somebody, our friend's been hurt!"

Luckily a security guard was doing his rounds and heard the call for help. He ran over as quickly as he could and saw Naomi groaning in pain on the ground. Naoki was okay, so she got up and walked sadly away. Naomi was taken to the main office of the mall where a doctor checked to see if she was alright.

"And you say a big boy did this to you?" he asked.

"Yeah," groaned Naomi.

"Is she going to be okay?" Marshall asked.

"Well apart from the black eye and the bruise on her face, she's going to be okay," the doctor answered, "now can you tell me what this boy looks like?" Both Naomi and Marshall told him everything and he reported it to the guards.

They searched threw the mall for Flash, but he had disappeared without a trace and with Naoki's new book still in his hand.

Kaede and I were shocked when Naomi and Marshall came home and we saw what happened to Naomi. I got her a pack of ice and gave it to her for her right eye, "geez that's cold," she groaned, "if I knew you were going to do that, I would've put snow on it earlier."

"It's to help the swelling Little Sis," I said firmly.

"Are you sure you're okay Naomi?" Kaede asked with a worried tone in her voice.

"Yeah I'm fine," she answered.

"Good, then you won't mind if I do this," I slapped her on the back of the head. "Were you tuned out or something yesterday when we were talking to you? We told you that voilence isn't going to solve anything with this guy."

"Yeah I got that message earlier," Naomi groaned.

"Well at least you finally see sense, cause that was stupid and reckless of what you did."

"Give me a break will you?"

"That boy nearly _did_ give you a break."

"I know that, but I was just trying to protect a friend. That stupid baka Flash stole Naoki's newest book and punched her when she wouldn't give it to him fast enough."

"That's no way to treat a lady," said Marshall.

"No it's not and we agree with you there Marshall, but trying to punch the guy out is not going to solve anything as you just found out tonight."

"Yeah I know," Naomi groaned, then a thought came to her, "What happened to Naoki? Where did she go?"

"Ya got me," said Marshall, "the moment the guard came to help out, she got up and walked away as if nothing had happened at all."

"Maybe she just wanted to get the heck out of there," said Daisy.

"That's a possibility," Naomi muttered. "Well, thanks for the ice Big Bro, I think I'm going to be okay now. Come on Marshall," and with that, the two young teenagers walked up the stairwell to their room.

The next day (Sunday March 4th 2012) was another snow day with at least 37 centimetres of snow on the ground and with more on the way. There was so much snow on the ground that it took Naomi, Primula and yours truely to clear it all off the sidewalk and up to the streets. For the rest of the day, we stayed indoors keeping warm and relaxing in the living room.

Not a lot happened throughout the day, that was until sometime after dinner.

Naomi and Primula had just finished washing the dishes and were walking over to the living room when they heard the phone ringing, "who should get the phone this time?" Naomi asked.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors for it."

Primula held out two fingers while Naomi held her entire hand, "alright I'll get the phone," she sulked, "I hate losing that game." Primula chuckled quietly and walked over to the living room. Naomi walked over to the phone stand and picked up the phone, "hello, Gagnon/Fuyou Residants."

"Hi Naomi," came a soft timid voice on the other end of the phone.

Naomi knew right away who the voice belonged to, "Naoki? How did you get my number?"

"I looked threw the phonebook," she answered, "listen, the reason I called is because I was worried about you. You took quite a beating from Flash."

"You can say that again," groaned Naomi as she felt her bruises. "You can relax though Naoki, while my bruises sting a little, I'm okay. What about you though? I saw you take a blow from that darn son of a baka."

"I'm okay, the bruise doesn't hurt that much, it's not as bad as it looks."

"Well I'm glad to hear that, cause it sure looked you took a huge beating."

"Yeah I did," she sighed, "well I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow Naomi, I hope you feel better by then," and with that, Naoki hung up the phone.

"She didn't even wait for me to say good night, oh well," Naomi thought to herself.

She put the phone back down, then she walked into the living room to join us. Every seat had been taken, so Naomi had no choice but to sit on the floor next to Primula.

"Who was that on the phone Naomi?" Kaede asked curiously.

"It was Naoki, that girl we've been telling you about," she answered, "she wanted to see if I was okay after the little beating from Flash."

"Well that was kind of her to do that, but how did she get our number?"

"She looked it up in the phonebook, that's how she found out," Naomi answered.

"Oh okay, I was just wondering."

A little later, we were watching a news report about how a boy had been tormented by bullies for so long that he stole his father's pistol and took it to school to get even with the school bullies, "_while the bullies survived the shootings, they will be dealt with by the police and their parents. As for the young boy, he'll be spending the next 5 years in prison for what he did._"

"Okay, even I know that using a gun to scare the bullies is not the answer," said Naomi.

"Oh sure you know that and so do the rest of us, but try to imagine for a moment if you were that victim," I said, "having been tormented for days and days, non-stop."

"I guess for them, they just want it to stop and sometimes they'll go to any means to do it."

"Now you got it. Victims will do anything to stop it, either by throwing punches, kicking them hard...or biting them hard like..." I paused and gave a cough to cover what I was saying (bet you can guess what I said though right?), "or in that particular case, use a weapon on the bullies."

"That's why it's very important that you tell someone about what's going on and avoid the bullies as much as possible," said Kaede.

"Yeah I get it," Naomi said quietly and throughout the rest of the night, she remained quiet. She had a lot to think about.

The next morning (March 5th 2012), Naomi was walking along with Marshall, her two older sisters and Max and Monty the twins. As they walked along, they spotted Naoki in the distance walking along with her books in her arms. As she was walking, someone stuck their foot out and she once again fell face first to the ground.

"Did I not tell you to watch where you're going loser?" he snickered. Naoki said nothing to Flash, "and where do you think you're going today?"

"School," she answered.

"Wrong answer, our school won't allow losers like you to stay, so you might as well just give up and go home like the loser you are."

Naomi was watching the taunting and this time, instead of getting angry, she whispered to Marshall, "go on ahead without me," then she walked up towards Naoki and Flash.

"Uh Oh, what is she up to now?" Daisy asked.

"Don't know, but me babe's told me that we should go on without her," said Marshall.

And that's what they did, the five young teenagers walked past them while Naomi got down to help Naoki, "here, let me help you with your books again."

"Well if isn't the little red hothead, are you going to try to punch me again today?" Flash asked with a snicker.

Naomi didn't take any notice this time, she continued to help Naoki, then once her books had been picked up, she helped the yellow haired girl to her feet, "want to walk to school with me?" she asked.

"She can't go to school, she's too much of a loser," said Flash rudely.

"Well?" Naomi asked kindly.

"Sure, let's go."

Not paying any attention to Flash, the two girls walked away. He was stunned for a moment, then he shouted, "she's not worthy of our school! Why don't you leave that piece of shit alone?!"

"Aren't you going to respond to that?" Naoki asked.

"No," Naomi answered while shaking her head, "after the injuries we had suffered at the hands of this guy, I'm not going to give him the satisfaction he wants. He wants me to get angry and he expects you to listen to him, but if we walk away from him, we should be okay."

"You know, I like the sound of that better than getting beaten up."

"I'm sure anyone would agree with you there," smiled Naomi.

They soon caught up with the others and soon they had arrived at their school. Marshall, Naomi and Naoki walked over to the classroom and sat down in their seats. Naoki looked nervously over to the seat to the right of her desk, "that's where he usually sits," she groaned.

"Does he bother you when you're trying to do your work?" Marshall asked.

"Yes," she answered with a nod.

"Then don't put up with it," said Naomi, "tell the teacher how you feel and she'll gladly help." Naoki took Naomi's advice and went up to the front desk to speak with the teacher.

After a while, Flash came into the classroom and was just about to sit down in his spot, "Flash! May I speak to you for a moment?" the teacher called out to him.

"Uh sure," he said, sounding a little uneasy.

He went up to the front while Naoki went back to her desk, "that felt good just telling someone about his bullying," she said with a smile, "and she said she's going to make sure he doesn't bother me again."

And the teacher definetly made sure of that. She had Flash moved up to the front row, "this way I can keep an eye on you Flash and you won't be bothering the other students."

Flash was not happy, but Naoki was and throughout the day, she did all of her work with no trouble at all.

The day went by as normal and after the classes were done, Naoki spoke with Naomi, "you hardly know me and yet you were willing to help me. Thank you so much for your help Naomi."

"Hey what are friends for?" she smiled.

"Friends?"

"Yeah, we're friends now, we always will be."

"Well that's great," she smiled, then she asked, "would you and your boyfriend, Marshall is it?" Naomi nodded in answer to that question, "would you two like to come over to my place? We can work on our homework together and maybe play some video games together."

"Well I would love to go, what about you Marshall?"

"Ya don't need to ask me twice, I'm in - just make sure you phone your big brother and sister and let them know of where we're going to be."

"I'll do that on the way."

With that said, the three teenagers grabbed their books and bags, then headed for the door. They were just reaching the doorway when suddenly, Flash stormed up and blocked their path, looking very angry. "You told the teacher you little tattle-tale, you shouldn't have done that."

"I did what anyone would've done," she said with a determined tone in her voice. "Now will you please move? We would like to go."

"I don't think so, not until you do all of my homework. Do you understand bitch?!" he shouted and threatened her by raising his fist.

"I won't do your homework, I have my own to do - besides, you'll have plenty of time to do your homework cause the teacher is calling for you." Flash gulped and looked. Sure enough, sitting at her desk was their teacher and was asking him to come over to her desk.

"Dammit!" he snapped and looked over to Naomi, "you were responsible for making her the way she is. Someday I'll get even with you Naomi Fuyou."

"Good luck trying, cause I won't fight you," she said firmly.

"Flash!" called the teacher.

Flash growled angerily and stormed up to the front of the classroom and shouted at the teacher. Bad idea on his part, she scolded him and told him to stay in his desk for a two hour detention, "Dammit! Damn it all!" he snapped angerily.

For Naoki, she walked happily out of the classroom with her first two high school friends following closely behind her, smiling and laughing all the way down the halls to the enterance way.


	57. More to Know about the Quintens

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 57: More To Know About the Quintens**_

"We're almost there, my house isn't too far away," Naoki said to Naomi and Marshall. The three young teenagers had walked a good distance away from the school and were looking forward to getting to the house, mostly because of the cold weather.

"I'm glad to hear that, we stay out here any longer and I'm going to catch a serious cold again," Naomi shivered.

Less than a couple minutes later, Naoki stopped walking, "we're here," she said.

Naomi and Marshall looked around, but all they saw was a big metal gate and a stone wall, "where?" Naomi asked, "I don't see a house, all I see is a gate and a wall."

"My house is on the other side of this gate," Naoki said with a quiet chuckle.

She then pushed a small button and waited, "yes?" came a voice from the intercom

"It's Naoki," Naoki answered, "I'm coming in with a couple of friends."

"Just wait one second and I'll open the gate," said the voice. There was a moment of silence, there was a loud buzzer which scared the heck out of Naomi, then the gates opened up.

"Gosh darn it Naoki, that buzzer is really loud," groaned Naomi.

"I think I'll be hearing that crazy buzzer for weeks," added Marshall as he pounded on his right ear.

"I'm sorry about that," Naomi apologized, "I'll ask my parents to have that buzzer's volume lowered so it won't scare you again."

With the gates now open, the three young teenagers walked onto Naoki's property. Both Naomi and Marshall gasped as they looked around, the whole front yard was the size of Nerine's house, "holy mother of God," gasped Marshall, "ya could've told us that ya had a big property."

"Actually it's not that big," said Naoki, "it's actually on the small side."

"What?!" exclaimed Naomi in shock, "you have got to be kidding me right? This is not only the biggest house I've ever seen, but it's also the biggest property I've ever seen."

"Same here," agreed Marshall.

"Well I'm not kidding," said Naoki, "my house is actually pretty small compared to others."

Naomi and Marshall didn't believe that, but they didn't say anything more on the subject and continued to follow Naoki over to the house.

The moment they stepped into the house, Naomi and Marshall got another shock as they saw the interior of the house, "Holy Mother of God," gasped Naomi this time, which surprised Marshall, for he usually says that, "this is bigger than a mansion. Wow," she was in awe and so was Marshall.

At that moment, a Maid came walking into the enterance way to see Naoki, "good evening miss, welcome home."

"Thank you Callie, it's good to be home," Naoki smiled, "can you get us some milk and cookies as a snack?"

"Of course I can, but you have homework to do?"

"Yes we do, we're going to do it in my room and have our snacks at the same time."

"Very well then, I'll go get your snacks Miss Quinten," and with that, the maid turned on her heel and walked away towards the kitchen. Naoki smiled and looked back towards her new friends, only to see a shocked look on Naomi's face.

"Quinten? Is that your last name?" Naomi asked.

"Yes," said Naoki, "Quinten is my last name."

"Are you related at all to Mr. Quinten, manager of the 'Tech Corner' Television show that my Big Bro is the host of?"

"Well yes I am related, but that Mr. Quinten is not my father," Naoki answered, "I'm the daughter of his brother."

"He actually has a brother?" Naomi asked. Naoki nodded her head, "huh. I wonder if Big Bro knows if his boss has a brother," she thought to herself.

"My room's just down the hallway, follow me."

And that's just what Naomi and Marshall did, they followed Naoki down the hallway and right up to her bedroom, which (in Naomi's view) was the size of her own room X5 with a big bed, several shelves full of figurines, DVDs and manga books.

"And here I thought ya and Matthew had a large collection of manga books," Marshall said to Naomi.

"I thought I did too, but I guess we don't," she then asked, "Naoki, how long have you been collecting those manga books?"

"I've been collecting them ever since I was old enough to read, so it's been roughly fifteen years since I started collecting them."

Naomi's mouth opened wide, but no sound came out of it, she was just stunned at what she had heard, "fifteen years, then that must mean she started reading when she was either one or two years old."

"Naomi?" Naoki called out her name, "are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah sorry, I guess I got lost in my own thoughts, just like my own Big Bro," she chuckled nervously, "and that's not a good thing. Hey, after we're done our homework, do you mind if I look at some of your manga books?"

"Of course you can Naomi," Naoki answered.

With that question answered, the three teenagers walked over to a small round table, pulled out their books and began to work on their homework. The maid came a few minutes later with the milk and cookies, "if you need any help, I'll be down the hallway."

"Thank you Callie," Naoki said kindly.

Callie the maid bowed to Naoki, then she turned and walked out of the room, leaving the three young teenagers to work on their homework.

Meanwhile, back at 'Tech Corner', Al and I were just finishing up the show, "and that's how you repair a car motor," said Al, "just remember, it's not easy work, so don't force someone to work faster, it takes a little time."

"That's right Al," I nodded, then I looked at the clock, "we got a few minutes left of Today's show, so I would like to speak to all of you about bullying. Reason I'm talking about this is because my Little Sis, Naomi Fuyou, was beat up by a bully a couple of days ago. Now don't worry, she's okay and she did learn that voilence won't solve the situation, but the real reason I'm discussing this is because no matter if you're a kid or an adult, there will always be bullies."

"Unfortunately," Al muttered, he was obviously thinking about some bully he faced in the past.

"There are ways that you can put a stop to the bullying," I continued, "by telling someone about those bullies, then they can help you and no matter what they say, just ignore them and walk away. Also, there are help lines where you can talk to someone, they're always glad to talk to you."

It was then that Al joined in, "and also, there are websites and organizations you can join to help bring a stop to the bullying, maybe for good."

"Well said Al," I smiled, "anyways, that's all the time we have for today. Join us tomorrow when we show you how to repair a giant engine from a dump truck and also a fire truck, till then I'm Matthew Gagnon and this is assistant Al saying good night," and on that cue, we gave off a salute to everyone, "see you tomorrow everyone!"

The audiance clapped and Sakura shouted: "And cut! Wonderful boys, good work."

"Thanks Sakura," I smiled.

With the show now done for the day, Al and I went to work in cleaning up the set while the Audiance headed off to their vehicles. Not all of them left though, there was one man who didn't leave, he just walked up to our set, "I'm sorry sir, but nobody from the audiance is allowed on the set without premission," said Al.

"Oh that's okay, I'm an old friend of your boss."

"Mr. Quinten?" I asked.

"That's right - actually, I'm his brother." Al and I gasped, we had no idea that Mr. Quinten even had a brother, "I must say that I enjoyed listening to your little speech about how to deal with bullies, my family and I have been dealing with those bullies for years and your message might just be what we need to stop it."

"Well every little bit helps," I said.

"Yes indeed," he then checked on his watch, "oh sorry, I got to go, can't keep my family waiting you know. Tell my brother I said hello."

"Will do," I said with a cheerful nod. Mr. Quinten's brother showed a smile, then he turned and walked away, "I've said it before and I'll say it again, you learn something new everyday."

"That never gets old," Al chuckled as we went back to work.

About thirty minutes after they had began, the three young teenagers finally finished the last of their homework, "oh my gosh finally," groaned Naomi and fell back to the floor, "that was difficult."

"I don't know, I thought it was easy," said Naoki.

"Yeah I thought it was easy too," Marshall said in agreement.

"Oh you have to be kidding me...maybe it's just me."

"Now, you said you wanted to look at some of my manga books, isn't that right Naomi?" Naoki asked. Naomi nodded in answer to her question, "well you're more than welcome to look at all my books, just be careful with some of them, they are quite old and might fall apart."

"Don't worry Naoki, I'll be careful with your books," she said as she got to her feet, "I would never damage anything that wasn't mine."

She walked over to the bookcase and looked threw the large selection of books. Naoki had books that went back to the early days of the manga books, so she had series that had long since vanished off the store book shelves. Finally, Naomi picked out one book to read, which was around the same time another person was coming into the house.

"Naoki! I'm home!" called a voice, "where are you sweetheart?"

"I'm in my room Dad!" Naoki called out.

Moments later, a man came walking into the room. He was wearing a dark brown suit and had a black tie on, "oh I'm sorry, I didn't know you had guests over."

"It's okay dad," Naoki said with a smile, "These are my new friends, Marshall Asakura and Naomi Fuyou."

"Naomi Fuyou," her father repeated, "tell me, you have a big brother named Matthew Gagnon?"

"Well yeah I do," Naomi answered, "but he's actually my Big Brother in law, I'm actually the sister of Kaede Fuyou, the former princess of the school."

"Ah okay," he said, "Still I'm pleased to meet you both, I hope you're enjoying your first visit here."

"Yeah we're enjoying ourselves," Naomi said cheerfully, "and we especially like hanging out with your daughter."

"I'm glad to hear that," he smiled, "now I got work I have to do, so if you need me, just give me a shout."

"Sure dad," said Naoki.

And with that, Naoki's father turned and walked out of her room, "what do your parents do anyways?" Naomi asked curiously.

"My mom designs software systems and my dad is a Uninversity teacher at one of Tokyo's best schools," she answered, "they both work very hard at their jobs and sometimes I don't get to see them until the next morning."

"They still make time for you right?" Marshall asked.

"Oh yes of course, they always make time to talk to me or to spend some time with me," Naoki answered cheerfully. Then a thought came to her, "can you hold on for a bit, I just want to talk to my dad."

"Sure Naoki, we'll wait right here until you get back," said Naomi.

Naomi and Marshall were true to their word, they stayed in Naoki's bedroom reading a small portion of the manga book Naomi picked out. After a minute or so, Naoki returned to the bedroom, "I just spoke with my dad and he says that if you want to, you can join us tomorrow night for dinner and then you can get to know my parents."

"Well of course we want to come, right Marshall?" Naomi's boyfriend nodded in answer to that question, "and when we go home, we'll ask the rest of our family if they could come too."

"Alright then, you let me know later tonight of how many people are going to be coming."

"Alright Naoki, we'll do that."

A little later, back at the Fuyou/Gagnon house, Naomi was telling all of us about her and Marshall's visit to Naoki's house and of her request, "I love to join you guys," Kaede said sadly, "but I can't go."

"How come?" Naomi asked.

"The Doctor said that I have to stay off my feet for a while, at least until the day I give birth," she answered, "plus I don't want to take the risk and mess up somebody's floor should my water break."

"Huh?"

"You'll learn this stuff when you're a little older."

"Oh okay," she then turned to me, "what about you Big Bro? Are you going to join us?"

"I love to join you guys as well, but my answer is also no."

"And why is your answer 'no'?"

"Cause I don't feel right about leaving Kaede all by herself, especially since she is nine months pregnant now. Those kids could come at any day now, so it's better if I stay with Kaede, just to be on the safe side."

"Well okay, I guess that's a good reason," she then turned to Daisy and Primula, "and what about you two? Can you join us for the dinner or are you two going to be busy?"

"I'm not going to be busy," said Primula, "I'd love to come, what about you Daisy?"

"Well I'm not really that busy, I was just going to spend the night working on the doll, but I guess I could take a break from it and join you guys for a special dinner."

"Great," smiled Naomi, but then she muttered, "I wish you would take a break from that doll permanently."

Daisy heard, but pretended like she didn't and just winked at Kaede and myself.

Later in the evening, Naomi phoned Naoki and told her that she, Marshall, Primula and Daisy could come, "sadly my Big Bro and my sister Kaede won't be able to come. Well she's nine months pregnant and she's been told to stay off her feet. Okay then, we'll meet you after school tomorrow afternoon and we'll walk with you to your house. Alright, see you tomorrow Naoki. Bye."

The following next afternoon (Tuesday March 6th 2012), Naomi, Marshall and the two other sisters followed Naoki all the way to her house, "she might say it's a bit on the small side," Naomi whispred to Daisy and Primula, "but the truth of the matter is, it's a very big house and the property is bigger than anything you've ever seen before."

At last, the five of them arrived at the house. Like Marshall and Naomi the day before, Primula and Daisy could not believe the size of the place or the property, "you weren't kidding when you said it was big," said Daisy to Naomi.

"It's not really that big, it's small compared to some of the other houses," said Naoki.

Primula and Daisy were at a loss of words over what they heard, but they were also speechless when they saw the inside of the house, "Naoki, did we have that same exact look on our faces yesterday?" Naomi asked.

"Yep, you had that look," she giggled with a smile on her face.

"Hello and welcome to our house," said another female voice. This time it belonged to Naoki's mother, "allow me to introduce myself, I'm Flora Quinten, I'm Naoki's mother."

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Naomi Fuyou and this young man here is my boyfriend, Marshall Asakura."

"I'm Daisy Gagnon, I'm Naomi's sister in law."

"And I'm Primula, one of Naomi's sisters, but you can call me Rimu if you want."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you all, but I thought you guys had two older siblings."

"Yeah we do, a big brother named Matthew Gagnon and our big sister Kaede Gagnon, formly Kaede Fuyou, they couldn't make it tonight and apologize for not coming," said Naomi, "it's just that Kaede has to stay off her feet for a while considering she's nine months pregnant."

"It's understandable, maybe someday in the future I'll get to meet them."

Just then, Naoki's father came into the enterance hallway, "Dinner will be ready in an hour," he said, "in the meantime, Naoki, why don't you give your friends a little tour of the house."

"Sure dad, come with me my friends."

She didn't need to tell them twice, they were more than interested into seeing the inside of the house, so they followed Naoki all around the place, which took almost two hours to see everything.

"And here I thought Rina's house was big," said Primula, "this house just proved me wrong."

By the time the tour was done, dinner was finally ready and everyone gathered in the big dining room. The table was big and so long that at least 50 people could sit at it at the same time.

"It's an okay table," said Naoki's mother, "but it's really small and doesn't fit everyone in our family when they come over during the Christmas holidays."

"What is it with them and thinking that what they have is small?" Naomi thought to herself. She didn't dare ask out loud cause she didn't want to offend Naoki or her family.

"We hope you will enjoy the meal," said Naoki's father, "our cooks worked hard to make it for you guys."

"And we thank you for the food," Daisy said kindly, "it looks delicous."

Primula was the first to take a bite of the food, "and it is delicous."

The cooks from the kitchen smiled when they heard that. They then turned and walked back into the kitchen. Once they had left the room, Naomi asked a question to Naoki's father, "how many times do you get to see your brother? If you don't mind me asking."

"I don't mind if you ask, I actually get to see him three to four times a year."

"Are you guys busy all the time?" Primula asked.

"Yeah we're pretty much busy all the time, it's very rare we get to see the rest of the family," he answered, "but when we do, it's quite a celebration."

"Which is usually held in this house," chuckled Naoki.

"How come?" Daisy asked.

"Cause we have a very big family and only our house is big enough for everyone," answered Naoki's mother.

The four teenagers decided not to ask and just take their word on how big their family was. So instead, they talked with the Quinten family about some of their own past moments and listened in to the many stories the Quinten had to tell. They enjoyed their visit to the Quinten's mansion, but all good things must come an end as their visit soon ended.

"Thank you for the lovely dinner and for the tour," Naomi said kindly.

"And for the stories too," added Primula.

"You're very welcome," said Naoki's mother, "it was nice having all of you over for a visit and we hope to see you and your older brother and sister here someday."

"Oh I'm sure you will," Naomi said cheerfully.

"Before you go Naomi, I want to give you something," said Naoki. She then gave Naomi the very manga book she had been reading the day before, "I saw that you were interested in that book, so I decided to give it to you."

"Thanks, but won't you miss having it in your collection?"

"Actually no, I've already gotten one in my collection, but I would like you to have this as a gift."

"Well thanks Naoki and I promise you that I will take good care of this book," and on that note, the four teenagers said their good nights and thank yous, then they set off back to the Gagnon/Fuyou house.

When they got back, they found Kaede and myself in our bedroom. Kaede was reading one of the manga books and I was online, "did you have a good time at Naoki's house?" Kaede asked.

"Oh yeah, it was wonderful, although there was a lot to see in that house, it took us about two hours to walk around the place," said Naomi.

"That's interesting," I said, "and what about the Quinten family?"

"Oh they're very nice people with lots of interesting stories to tell. They said that we're always welcome to visit their place anytime, oh and look at what Naoki gave me." Naomi held up the book and showed it to us.

"Naoki really had that book?" I asked.

"Yeah, she actually had two of them. Why? Do you know this series?"

"Not all that well, but I remember seeing it a few times when I was younger."

"As you said, that's interesting," said Naomi before letting out a big yawn, "excuse me, I guess I better go to bed before I fall asleep standing up."

"Good luck trying to do that," snickered Daisy.

Naomi shot her an angry stare, but Daisy just laughed and walked out of the room. Naomi followed, shouting angerily at Daisy. "Good night," Marshall and Primula said in unison before heading off back to their rooms.

"I'll say this Kaede, with our sisters and our friends, there's never a dull moment."

"That's right, never a dull moment," she chuckled in agreement.

And on that note, Kaede went back to reading the book while I continued to talk with my friends on the Sodor Island Forums about the events that occured since the last time we spoke.


	58. The Growing Tsuchimi Family

Well it's one of the moments you've been waiting for. This story is all about Asa, Rin and their baby - whose name I'm not telling just yet, you'll have to read to find out what is it. One little thing I would like to point out that one moment in this story is based on something that happened to me in the winter of 2010 when the outside car locks were frozen and a coat hanger was used to unlock the car.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 58: The Growing Tsuchimi Family**_

The following next afternoon (Wednesday March 7th 2012), after the 'Tech Corner' show was done for the day, I went over to the grocery store to get everything on the list Kaede had given me.

"Okay let's see if I got everything here," I muttered quietly to myself, "chicken - check. Pasta - check. Potatos - check. Rice...oh shoot, I forgot it again, seems like I have a habit of forgetting it all the time."

I quickly turned the cart around and went down to the section where the rice was. As I was walked up to the area though, I saw a familar green haired girl doing grocery shopping - all by herself.

"Asa?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh hi Matthew," she said, "doing some grocery shopping I see huh? But where's Kaede, I thought she'd be with you."

"Kaede's back at the house right now and resting," I answered, "she's suppose to stay off her feet until the day the kids are born. So that's why I'm here getting groceries - anyways, why are you doing this? You should be staying home too."

"I was bored with nothing to do and I was also tired of watching the same shows over and over again, so when my mom went out, I grabbed the grocery list and came here."

"All by yourself?!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah of course by myself, I don't need somebody watching over me all the time. I can take care of myself and take care of the shopping, which I'm almost done with."

I merely shook my head after hearing that, "oh yeah, Rin's really going to be ticked off with you."

"Nah he won't, he'll probably thank me for doing this," she then looked at her list, "well I got to go, I have some more things I need to get. See you later Matthew," and with that, Asa walked away.

I watched her walk slowly away until she was out of sight, "She's really stubborn that girl," I thought to myself, "I wonder if Rin and Asa's child will be the same."

Speaking of her husband, less than a minute after my talk with her, who should've showed up but Rin himself.

"Hey Matthew, have you seen..."

"She went that way," I said and pointed to the direction Asa had gone. Rin didn't stick around to thank me, instead he just walked off and I'm assuming he found Asa cause I heard him yell, "yep, he's pissed off." I grabbed a box of rice, then headed off to the cashiers.

"Asa was at the grocery store all by herself?" Kaede asked after I had gotten back and told her and the whole family everything.

"Yep, she was there all by herself and acting like she wasn't even pregnant." I stopped talking and looked over to Little Sis, I was waiting for what she was going to say.

I thought she was going to say 'there's nothing wrong with a girl doing some shopping by herself', but what we heard was different, "man, that is just stupid, has she completely forgotten that she's going to have a baby soon? It's dangerous to be doing that kind of stuff."

"Well that's a first, Naomi actually agrees with us on something."

"I've agreed with you on alot of things Daisy, it's just that I don't do it that often."

"Right," Daisy muttered and rolled her eyes.

"Well thankfully Rin showed up and I'm assuming took her and the groceries home," I continued.

"How the heck did he know anyways?"

"You know I never got the chance to ask the question, but I'm assuming that either Asa left a note or Rin just noticed the grocery list was gone."

"That girl has always been stubborn," said Primula, "it doesn't matter if she's sick or pregnant, she'll do whatever she wants."

"Yeah and as I have said before on countless occassions, that's something about Asa that just won't change," said Kaede. "I just hope that Rin's not going to go too hard on her."

"I don't know, he sounded really ticked off earlier and if I had to guess, they're probably in the middle of a big fight right about now."

"Do you even know how stupid that was?" Rin was asking on the way back to the Shigure house.

"What? I was just shopping, there is nothing wrong with shopping."

Rin sighed heavily and shook his head, "look Asa, I can understand you're bored at home, however that is no excuse for leaving," he said angerily, "what if something happened to you huh? Then not only would you get hurt, but so would our soon to be born baby girl."

"Rin, I was being extra careful, I even wore winter boots."

"Maybe, but there are shady characters in this city and suppose one of them saw you huh? What would you have done then huh?"

"I would've defended myself, I'm not helpless."

Rin groaned heavily as they pulled up to the house, "well for now on, you're not leaving the house at all. I'm going to tell Ms. Ama to keep a close eye on you for now on."

"You're really going to say that Rin?"

"For the safety of our family, then yes I would say that!"

"Well fine Rin, suit yourself!" Asa snapped. She got out of the van, then she slammed the door hard. "Oh and don't think that you're going to be sleeping with me tonight. You can crash on the couch."

"For what? I'm only concerned about you and our daughter."

"Well you have a funny way of showing you're concerned," Asa turned and walked as fast as she could into the house. She walked past her mother, who was looking worried, then she walked into her room and slammed the door.

"What's going on Rin?" she asked.

"Oh Asa's mad at me because I yelled at her," he answered, "I'm only trying to keep her and our child from getting hurt."

Asa came back moments later with a blanket and a pillow, "go make your own bed Rin and don't bother trying to talk to me for the rest of the night!" she snapped. She stormed out of the room again and slammed the bedroom door.

"Oh my, I haven't seen Asa that mad in a long time."

"Me neither," Rin sighed unhappily. "I don't like yelling at her and I know she's an adventurous type of person, but what am I suppose to do when she's walking out to the grocery store while pregnant."

"You were just being the caring husband you are," said Ms. Ama, "and in time, Asa will learn that too."

"I hope so," he muttered.

Later that same evening, Kaede and I were in our bedroom and sitting on the bed. Kaede was reading a manga book out loud while I was giving her a little massage, "ohh, yeah...yeah right there, oh that's perfect," she smiled, "Thank you Matthew, my back was just killing me."

"Well you know me Kaede, I'd do anything to make you feel better," I whispered softly into her left ear. I then kissed her on the left side of her face, which made her blush. She then turned her head and was just about to kiss me back when we suddenly heard some knocking at the door, "who is it?" I asked.

"It's Little Sis!"

"Oh geez Little Sis," I groaned, "excuse me a moment Kaede."

I got up from the bed and walked over to the door. Sure enough on the other side of the door was Naomi, "why do you have to keep ruining the good moments we have?" I asked.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to distrub you," she said sounding quite offended.

"What's the matter Naomi?" Kaede asked.

"Nothing really, except for the fact that I saw a van parked outside of our house."

"A Van?" I asked, "this I got to see."

"Just follow me." Naomi lead the way back to her bedroom where we found Marshall looking outside, "is it still out there Marshall?" Naomi asked.

"Oh yeah, the dang ploke's still parked there," he answered.

I looked down from the window and saw the van there, "That's Rin's van, but what is Rin doing here when he should be at home?"

"Care to find out like you always do?" Naomi asked with a sly grin.

"Hey, I like to help people whenever I can, alright?" I asked. Naomi nodded to answer my question, "and yes I'm going to find out why he's here." I walked out of Naomi's room and back over to my room to get my housecoat.

"Who is it out there Matthew?" Kaede asked.

"It's Rin's van, he's parked right outside and I'm going to find out what's going on."

I walked slowly down the stairwell and over to the enterance way, but just as I was about to put my boots on, the doorbell rang. I slid the door to a side and sure enough, there was Rin on the other side.

"It's kinda late to be hanging out with friends, don't you think Rin?" I asked.

"It is," he sighed, "but I had to get out of the house for a while before I snapped at Asa again."

"Can I call them or what?" I thought only to myself. "So what happened?"

"Well you know that Asa went to the grocery earlier today," I nodded to let him know I was paying attention. Rin then told me and Kaede, who had just come downstairs to see what was going on, all about the conversations he and Asa had, "so to make the long story short, I'm sleeping on the couch while Asa is pouting in our bedroom."

"Well I can see one problem already."

"What?"

"You didn't say how long she had to stay in the house, she probably thought that you were treating her like a caged animal."

"But I wasn't, I was just being a caring husband and father."

"We know you did Rin," said Kaede, "but you really can't blame Asa for the little blowout. Woman who are pregnant do have wild mood swings at times."

"Even you Kaede?"

"Yes, even me at times," she nodded.

"Well I guess I should've at least said that she has to stay in the house until the day our baby is born." He sighed and then the room fell silent, apart from the few groans Kaede gave off due to the kicking in her stomach. "Maybe when Asa calms down, we'll sit down and have a nice calm conversation."

"I think that's a good idea Rin."

"So do I," I nodded in agreement.

"Thanks guys and I'm sorry if I'm ruining anything important, I just needed to talk to someone without Asa hearing."

"Well we're always glad to..." but Kaede was suddenly cut off by the ringtone on Rin's cellphone.

"Oh geez, Asa must've found out that I left the house," sighed Rin. He pulled out his cell phone and checked the number, "yep, it's Asa's number."

"Then what are you waiting for? Talk to her," I said.

"Right," he nodded and answered, "hello Asa. Before you ask, I'm at Matthew and Kaede's house."

"Glad to hear that, cause I was worried," came the reply on the other end. Even from where we stood, Kaede and I could tell that all was not well with Asa.

"Asa, is something wrong?"

"Rin...I don't know how to tell you this, but..."

"But what? What is it?"

"My water just broke, I'm having the baby right now!"

"What?!" he exclaimed, "you're having the baby right now? Okay Asa, can you get yourself to the hospital?"

"Yeah I called for an ambulance, they should be here soon."

"Okay then, I'll see you at the hospital," he said and hung up. "Sorry to cut our conversation short, but - well, you can guess what's going on." He ran quickly out of the house, but ended up slipping on a patch of ice and fell back on his butt.

"Are you okay Rin?" Kaede called.

"Yeah Kaede I'm fine, except that my wife is going to be giving birth to our baby daughter and I'm not there," he got up quickly and ran to his van. He put the keys into the ignition and turned them, but the engine would not start probably. Rin pumped the gas and kept turning the keys, but it just would not start, "Dammit! I can't believe it's not starting!"

"I'm going to go help him," I said to Kaede, "I have a bad feeling it's the radiator." I got on my jacket and boots, then I walked outside to the van, "pop the hood, let's take a look." Rin popped the hood and I pushed it up. It didn't take me to figure out what was going on, "Rin, how long were you here?"

"Oh I don't know, for a long time," he answered, "why?"

"Your raditor is frozen," I answered, "didn't you give your van Antifreeze?"

"Uh no, I didn't know I was suppose to do that."

"Well you are Rin, cause it stops your raditor from freezing over as it has done now..." I paused and shivered at the blast of cold wind, "this extra cold weather certainly isn't helping matters."

"Oh that's just great, now I'll miss the birth of my baby daughter. Dammit!" he shouted.

"Geez, wake up the whole neighbourhood why don't you?"

"Sorry, it's just...ohh," he groaned.

"Don't pout, I'll give you a lift to the hospital, just give me a minute to get my keys." I walked back to the house and grabbed my keys, "his van's not going to start tonight, even if we do give it antifreeze, so I'm going to drive him there."

"Just be careful out there, the roads can be icy at times."

"Don't worry Kaede, I'll be careful," I said and gave her another kiss.

"Wait," she said and gave me two kisses, "that second one is the one I was going to give you earlier."

"Oh Kaede," I smiled and rubbed the top of her head. She blushed again, "alright I'll be home real soon."

With that confirmed, I walked over to the truck. However luck didn't seem to be on our side tonight, mostly due to the fact that the doors would not open, "oh for pete's sake, don't tell me the locks are frozen too," I groaned.

Sure enough, the locks were frozen and I had nothing to unfreeze them.

"Now what are we going to do?" Rin asked.

"Hold on to that thought for one second, I'll be right back," and with that, I ran off back to the house.

I returned soon with a metal hanger, "What the hell is that for?" Rin asked.

"To get the locks unlocked," I answered, "all I have to do is wrap one end of the hanger into a loop, then I'll slip this in between the roof and the door, then I can just lift up the lock."

"Good plan, but will it work?"

"Not sure Rin, I've never done this before, but anything's worth a try - I just never thought I'd have to break into my own truck. Well, here goes nothing." When the loop was made, I tried to get the door open a little bit. I used alot of force, but this was no easy task and it took a lot longer than we expected, but finally I got it open a little bit, which allowed me to put the loop into the truck.

"Come on Matthew, I'm going to miss this important moment."

"I'm trying my best Rin! It's not easy!" I shouted.

I had to use more strength and patience, but it wasn't paying off at first cause the loop didn't always grab the lock on the inside and other times it slipped, "Matthew!" Rin called.

"I know! I know!" I shouted back, "come on you, grab it!" Finally, the loop caught it and I was able to pull it up, "yes, finally!" I opened the door, then I unlocked Rin's side, "alright buddy, let's get you to the hospital."

"Assuming your truck will work," Rin groaned, mostly because he was cold.

"It will work," I said. I turned the keys and the engine started first time, "I gave this antifreeze earlier today, I just didn't deal with the lock."

I got the truck in gear, then we raced as fast as we could go to the hospital. Rin wanted me to go faster, but I couldn't disobey the speed limits.

"I hope we get there in time," Rin sighed and leaned back on the seat, "oh Asa must be worried sick right now. I hope she's alright."

"Well you'll soon find out Rin, cause we're almost there."

We soon reached the hospital, but found that getting a parking spot was difficult as there were so many cars, "this could take a while Rin," I said, "why don't you go on in? This is the beginning of the next chapter in your life buddy, be there for your wife and daughter."

"Right," he nodded, "thanks Matthew." He got out and after shutting the door, he ran into the hospital.

After getting in, he asked the front desk nurse of where Asa was. She then lead him to the room, where the green haired girl could seen panting and crying, "oh Rin, thank goodness you're...here," she cried.

"Yes Asa I'm here and I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Yelling at you and telling you that you can't do whatever you want. I was wrong Asa, you have an adventurous spirit and I shouldn't get mad at you for that, so I'm sorry for saying those things and for yelling."

"Well I'll accept your...apology," she groaned again, "as long as you forgive me."

"Forgive you?"

"Yeah. I thought it over and...you were right, I was being stupid...I shouldn't have put us..both in danger! AHH! And I'm sorry for yelling at you too."

"Asa, you don't need to say sorry."

"But I...do! AHH!" she cried again.

"Okay then, how about we just call it even this time okay?"

"You got it," Asa panted, "now hold my hand."

"Sure," he smiled and wrapped both his hand around Asa's right hand, "I'm right here if you need me."

"Thanks...RIN!" she cried.

"Alright Mrs. Tsuchimi, push!"

"Okay doctor," Asa did as the doctor asked, even though it was painful. She often looked up to Rin and saw him smile at her and that would encourage her to continue.

As for yours truely, I waited out in the waiting room and talked with Kaede over the phone, "yeah we made it here safely, although my fingers are sore from my little break in job."

"Will you be okay?" she asked on the other hand.

"Oh yeah I'll be fine and when I get home, I'm going to use those fingers to give you another massage."

"Oh Matthew," she said with a cheerful tone in her voice.

After the phone call, I waited in the waiting room. At first, the room was full, but soon it emptied out and I was the only one watching the old television in there. Finally, a doctor came in, "Are you Matthew Gagnon by any chance?"

"Yeah that'd be me," I nodded.

"Mr and Mrs. Tsuchimi would like to see you now."

The doctor took me down the hallway and into the room where I saw a beautiful moment. There was Rin, sitting next to Asa (with her hair a little messy) and in her arms was a baby in a pink blanket.

"Hey Matthew, thanks for bringing Rin here, you guys arrived just in time."

"Although it wasn't easy," Rin said with a chuckle.

"No it wasn't, but I'm always glad to help," I smiled. Then I just had to ask the obvious question, "What's your baby's name?"

"Hikari Tsuchimi," Asa and Rin said in unison. Little Hikari looked up at her parents and for a moment, it looked she was smiling.

"Well I guess this is my cue to go," I said.

"Wait Matthew, aren't you going to stick around for a bit?" Rin asked.

"Nah, I got to get home and see my wife. Besides, this is a moment between you three, it wouldn't be right if I stayed and distrubed everything."

"Okay then and thanks again."

"Ah no sweat it, no pun intended of course."

"Of course," Asa chuckled, but very quietly.

I was about to leave when a thought came to me, how were these guys going to get home? I checked the pockets in my pants and found that I had my wallet in one of them. I pulled it out and saw that I had some money in there. Right then and there, I knew what I had to do, "hey Rin, catch!" I tossed him my keys. He looked quite surprised, "you can use my truck to get home."

"Well uh...thanks Matthew, but what about you?"

"I'll take public transit home," I said, "and I'll bring your van back to your place as soon as I can get it working again."

"Thanks Matthew."

"You're welcome and Congratulations." I grabbed the door handle and was just about to close the door when I saw Rin kiss his wife first, then he kissed his baby girl on the forehead, "aww how sweet," I thought to myself, "you will make a great dad Rin, I just know you will."

And with that, I closed the door and headed off to catch a bus home.


	59. Staying Home

Originally, this chapter was suppose to introduce two more people that were always a part of Kaede's life, but I was having trouble with the story ideas, so I put that idea on hold for now and went with this story. Don't worry, you'll get a chance to see that story sometime in the near future. This story though, mostly shows Matthew staying home and taking care of his wife, it may not be a perfect chapter, but still I hope you guys will enjoy it.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 59: Staying Home**_

The trip back home was a little longer than excepted, but finally I arrived at the street where my house was. I walked down the street and soon reached the house where I found Daisy working on the engine of Rin's van.

"Hey sis, what are you doing out at this time of night?" I asked.

"Oh I'm just working on fixing this engine," she answered. "I had originally come out to give it Ant-freeze and then I saw the bad condition of this engine. Honestly, doesn't Rin know how to fix engines?"

"I'm guessing the answer would be 'no'," I said.

"Well anyways, I came out here to fix it...brr," she shivered, "but it's not easy."

"Daisy, why don't you save that bit of work for the morning?" I suggested, "in the meantime, why don't we go back inside before you catch a serious cold?"

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea," shivered Daisy again. She slammed the hood down, then she followed me into the house, "gosh dammit, it's freaking cold out there."

"Yeah you're definetly becoming a female version of me," I thought only to myself.

"By the way, what happened to your truck?" Daisy asked as she took off her winter gear, "I thought I heard you take it out earlier."

"I did, but I gave the keys to Rin and told him he can use the truck until after he gets his wife and new baby daughter home."

"That was real sweet of you," Daisy smiled. She then let out a big yawn, "oh excuse me. I'm going to go wash-up and go to bed."

"Alright then. I'll see you in the morning Daisy."

"Yeah I'll see you in the morning Matt."

I quickly got off my winter gear, then I headed off to the upstaris level, slowly and quietly as to not wake everyone else up. Naomi, Marshall and Primula were already asleep, but not my Kaede. I walked into the bedroom and found Kaede sitting on the bed and reading another manga book.

"Oh boy am I ever beat," I sighed. I placed my sweater on the computer chair and climbed back into bed.

Kaede rubbed a small portion of the left side of my face, "Oh Matthew, you're so cold right now."

"Yeah well I was sitting on a bus with a broken heater and I was talking with Daisy outside, so that's probably why I'm so..." but the rest of my speech was cut off as Kaede gave me a warm gentle hug and even kissed on the very spot of my face that she rubbed.

"Thanks Kaede, that always helps," I smiled.

"You're welcome Matthew."

"Now, how is that back of yours doing? Is it still hurting? Cause I can still give you give that massage before we go to sleep."

"Well now that you mention it, my back still hurts a little."

She didn't need to say anymore, I went back to giving Kaede that massage. She moaned happily when I was doing that and just hearing her told me that I was doing it right. After a while, it was time to go to sleep, we said our good nights, closed our eyes and went off to sleep (after I had turned off the lights of course).

The next morning, Daisy and I did what we could do to fix the engine, then we went to start it up. It started up perfectly first time, "Guess the anti-freeze and our maintenance work did the trick," said Daisy.

"Yeah I guess so," I nodded.

Naomi was just coming out to the street when she noticed Daisy with dirty sleves and had patches of oil on her face, "very nice Daisy, the messy look really suits you."

"It's called maintaning a vehicle Naomi, you ought to try it sometime and see what it's like," said Daisy, "a little bit of work won't kill you."

"Are you saying that I'm lazy?"

"Well let's look at the facts..."

"How about we don't and you two stop arguing already," I interupted. "Daisy, why don't you go get washed up and get ready for school and Little Sis, why don't you go back inside?"

"And why should I?"

"Cause you forgot something important," I pointed down to her right side. She looked down and saw that she didn't have her school bag with her.

"Oh shoot," she gasped and ran back to the house.

"Well that's a first, that kid never forgets anything," said Daisy, "but I guess there's a first time for everything."

"Yeah like today," I said, "I'm going to be driving a van to work instead of a truck, I've never driven a van before."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah it is," I nodded.

Daisy and I walked back to the house where we got cleaned up, then we got ready to head out. "Have a good day your four," Kaede said to our sisters and Marshall.

"We will," they all said in unison. They turned and walked away from the house and down the pathway before disappearing down the street.

"Well I guess I better get going too," I said. "I might be a few minutes late getting home tonight Kaede."

"How come?"

"Well it's because I might be talking with Mr. Quinten about taking some time off," I answered.

"Why are you going to be doing that?"

"It's so that I can stay home and look after you and be here with you, just to be on the safe side."

"You don't need to do that Matthew, I'll be okay. I've made it to the ninth month after all."

"I know that and I know you can take care of yourself, but I feel that I should stay home and help you out whenever you need it." Kaede could see from the look on my face that I was being serious.

"Well it's real sweet of you Matthew, but you don't need to stay off work every day of the week - why don't you say that you'll come in maybe two to three days a week, would that be alright?"

"Yeah I guess that could work and I'm sure Mr. Quinten wouldn't mind."

"Alright then."

"But just know that once the kids are born, I will be staying home with you alot," I said. I placed my right hand softly on the left side of her face and I placed my other hand on the right side of her face. She just smiled at me, "my dad never stayed home with my mom after I was born and I don't intend to make the same mistakes he made."

"You won't make those mistakes Matthew, you'll do great," she smiled.

"Thanks Kaede," I leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Well I guess I better head out, you call me if you need anything okay?"

"Okay - oh and don't forget your lunch Matthew." She held out a box wrapped up in a green clothe. I excepted the box, thanked Kaede and after one more kiss, I turned and walked off towards Rin's van. Kaede stayed in the doorway and warched me until I was out of sight.

A little later that day, at around two thirty, the show was just finishing up for the day and the three of us (Al, Sakura and myself) were cleaning up the set ready for the next day's show.

"Hey guys, would it be okay if I just take off for a couple of minutes?" I asked, "I need to speak with Mr. Quinten."

"Of course it's okay Matthew," said Sakura, "we can do this work alone until you get back."

"Thanks guys, I promise I won't take long."

With that said, I turned and ran off to find Mr. Quinten. I soon found him in his office and talking on the phone. I knew it was not wise to interupte him while he was on the phone, so I waited for the phone call to end.

"I'll be with you in a minute Matthew," Mr. Quinten said when he noticed me. He then went back to speaking with the person on the other end. Less than a minute later, he said good bye to the other person and hung up, "sorry to keep you waiting Matthew, I was just speaking with the manager of the Worldwide Version of our show. Now what can I do for you today?"

"Well Mr. Quinten, I was just wondering if I could take a few days off during the next weeks," I said, "as you know, my wife Kaede is nine pregnant and I want to help her out during this time and to be with her during this very important time. So would that be okay with you sir?"

"Yes it's okay with me Matthew and I find this sweet that you want to help your wife during this time," he said. "Now tell me, which days were you planning on staying home?"

"Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I can come in the other two days," I answered, "but if you ever need me for an important show or if there's too much for Al and Sakura to do alone, I can come in. Is that okay with you sir?"

"Yep, it's okay with me, just be sure to tell Sakura and Al before you guys leave today, otherwise they're going to be worried sick about you."

"Don't worry sir, I'll tell them and by the way, thanks."

"You're welcome," he nodded back.

With our discussion done, I went back to the main floor, only to discover that Al and Sakura had finished more than half of the work that needed to be done. I joined in to help set everything up for the next day's show, then I told them of what Mr. Quinten and I were talking about.

"I think that's a real good idea Matthew," said Sakura, "and I'm sure Kaede would appreciate having you around to help out."

"Yeah I'm sure she will, but if you guys ever need me, just call okay?"

"Okay Matthew," they both said in unison.

Once the work was done, I drove off back to the Tsuchimi/Shigure where I found Rin waiting outside for me. "Hey Matthew, thanks for letting us borrow your truck."

"You're welcome Rin, I'm always glad to help," I smiled as I handed him his keys and he gave me my keys. "Just to let you know, Daisy and I did alot of work on your van this morning. We found quite a few problems with it."

"Really? Cause the person who inspected it said it looked good."

"Well obviously that person doesn't know what they are talking about," I said, "but enough about that, how is your wife and your new baby girl doing?"

"Oh they're doing quite well, both of them are taking a little nap after coming back from the hospital - you know what to know something, for a moment, I thought I saw Hikari smiling in her sleep."

"Well you never know Rin, she probably was."

"Yeah," he nodded. He then looked back into the house when he heard some whimpering, "sounds like Hikari is up, I got to go. I'll see you later Matthew and thanks again."

"You're welcome," I nodded as he walked back into his house.

I turned and walked back to the truck and once the engine was running, I put the truck in drive and drove off back to the house.

The next morning (Friday March 9th 2012) was the first day of my time off from work and as promised, I helped Kaede with alot of the housework. I did more of the heavy workloads while she did minor jobs. There was a lot to do that day with landuary, washing the floors, making all the beds, folding clothes, putting them away, shovel the sidewalk of extra snow that fell that day and even clean the windows.

Kaede did minor jobs like washing the dishes and dusting off the pictures in the kitchen, bedroom and in the living room.

"There we go, all done," she smiled afterwords.

My work was not done yet, I had to work up to the Mid Afternoon, "okay it's all done," I panted as I walked into the bedroom and collapsed at Kaede's feet, "how do you do it Kaede? I'm worn out and yet when you do it, you're not tired."

"Well I guess it comes from doing that work for a long time. You get used to it after a while."

"Yeah I guess that's true," I sighed. It was then that I noticed that Kaede was holding some pieces of paper and looking at them, "what's that you got there Kaede?"

"These are the stories you and I used to write up about ourselves as kids," she answered, "they were so adorable and beautiful."

"Well I'm not surprised considering that you were the one that came up with the stories. I was the one who merely wrote the stories down and then printed them off."

"Actually, I didn't come up with all of these stories, remember the one you gave me on my 19th birthday and what about the one you gave me for Christmas 2009?"

"Oh yeah, I guess I did write those ones up," I said.

"They were great stories, why did we stop writing them anyways Matthew?"

"Well it's because...uh...you know Kaede, I really don't know why we stopped writing those stories. Maybe it's just because we were busy with other things or we just plain forgot to do anymore."

"Maybe," she nodded, "that's probably it."

"Yeah," I nodded. "Oh hey, I've been wondering, have you thought of any names that we could give to our three triplets?"

"Well there's a few names I can think of, but I don't want to be the only one who names them," she answered, "so I was thinking that for our first son and daughter, you can name them."

"I can name them?" I asked.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Oh okay, well..." I paused with a chuckle, "there's a couple of names in my head that I can think of. I'm sure you can guess what they are."

"Yes I can guess. They would be Thomas and Zoey, am I right?" she asked. I nodded my head in answer to her question, "well I think those would be perfect names for them."

"Thanks Kaede," then I asked, "What about our second little girl, what are you going to call her?"

"Well I was thinking of Lucia."

"Lucia huh? It sounds like a good name, but why did you pick it?"

"Well it's because I want to do it for my mom." I raised an eyebrow when I heard Kaede say that, "it was the name my mom was going to give to my sister."

"What?!" I exclaimed and nearly made poor Kaede jump in shock, "Kaede, was your mom pregnant before the..."

"Nope she wasn't," she interupted, "it was just something I heard on the night before she was to leave..."

This is what Kaede told me. She was only seven years old at the time and was carrying a little stuffed bear. She was walking up to the kitchen when she heard her parents talking, "I would really like to have another child, but it's enterily up to you hon."

"Well I would love to have another child, but what about Kaede?"

"Oh I'm sure Kaede and that little child will get along just fine," Momiji smiled, "Remember, Kaede is a little sweetheart and would never hurt anyone. Who knows, she just might like to have a little sister or brother she can teach things to."

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess there's no reason we can't have another child."

"Very well then, but let's wait until after the business trip okay?"

"Okay Momiji, but I have to ask, if we do have another child and it's a girl, what will you call her?"

Momiji thought hard about it. Kaede didn't make a single sound, she wanted to hear just what her mother's answer was going to be, "I was thinking on Lucia, I think it would be a perfect name for a little girl."

"...but as you know Matthew, my mother and Rin's parents were killed in that car accident during their trip," Kaede continued, "so when we found out that we were going to have one son and two daughters, I thought that maybe I could name of those girls 'Lucia' for my mom."

"Well that's real sweet of you Kaede and I'm sure your mom would be really happy to know that you're going to be doing that."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yep, I do think so," I nodded.

"Okay then that's what we'll call her," she said. She looked down to her stomach and placed her hand on it, "And I think she would like that too."

"How do you know it's our second daughter that's kicking?" I asked.

"I don't know, I guess it's just mother's intuition."

"Maybe it is."

After the little break and the little chat we had, we went back downstairs. We spent most of the afternoon just relaxing in the living room and watching some of our favourite shows together.

At around three, our sisters and Marshall finally came home. As per usual, Naomi was talking about Daisy's restoration work on the doll, "it's pointless Daisy, why don't you take my advice and throw it away."

"Would you dare get rid of it?" She asked with a sly grin. "Now get this into that thick head of yours Naomi, I'm not getting rid of it!"

"I do not have a thick head!" snapped Naomi.

"Oh really? Then why did it take you and Rimu so long to finally make up and start acting like friends again?"

"It's because we were stubborn and refused to apologize to each other," Primula answered.

"Not enterily true Rimu. As I recall, you came back here once in the hopes you could patch things up, but the little red head was being stubborn still and as a result, caused a fight in a thunderstorm. So, to make it obvious, Naomi Fuyou does have a thick head."

"I do not!" snapped Naomi.

"That's enough you guys seriously!" I snapped. Kaede and I could hear their little argument from the living room and I came out to restore peace between them before a fight broke out, "You guys bicker more than my own parents do."

"We do not bicker."

"Please don't start Little Sis."

"We're sorry Matthew," said Primula, "we didn't mean to do argue. We'll go upstairs and get started on our homework."

"Good," I nodded.

First though, Daisy had to get off her winter gear, but while she wasn't looking, Naomi stuck her tounge out at her, "oh that's real mature Naomi," she called.

Naomi jumped in surprise, "you saw that, but how?"

"I have eyes in the back of my head, don't you know?"

Naomi grunted and walked off. I was about to ask the obvious question, but I didn't need to do that as Daisy knew what I was going to ask, "I didn't really see her stick her tounge out, I just knew she would, it's who she is."

With that said, Daisy walked out of the main enterance hallway and walked on up the stairwell.

"Man, she's really good," I thought to myself.

For the rest of the night, the two sisters didn't argue once. They behaved well while doing their homework and again when they were helping to make dinner, and even more so when we were cleaning everything up.

At around nine that evening, just about everyone was asleep, apart from Bridget the Cat who was running around like a little kitten would and Kaede and myself. We were our room just relaxing. I was washing her back with warm water on a clothe, "I'm not rubbing too hard, am I Kaede?"

"No, you're not rubbing too hard," she answered.

"Okay just checking."

"Matthew."

"Yeah?"

"I want to say thank you to you."

"How come?"

"For everything you've done today, you were a big help today."

"Well you know that's who I am Kaede, I like to help."

"Yes I know," she nodded. "We make a great team don't we?"

"We sure do, we've always made a great team and we always will. Just like with our stories of ourselves as kids, it's teamwork that will help us raise those three kids of ours."

"Yeah," Kaede nodded.

She then turned around and gave me a hug. I wrapped my arms around her as I hugged her back. After the hug, I took the bowl back to the washroom and emptied it out, then I returned to the bedroom.

I climbed into bed and layed there with Kaede smiling at me, "well I'll see you in the morning."

"And I'll see _you_ in the morning," I winked and as always, Kaede giggled happily. "I love you."

"And I love you too," she said. She leaned forward and kissed on the right side of my face.

I leaned forwards and kissed her on the left side of her side, then after we said our good nights to our children, we closed our eyes and went off to sleep. Dreaming about our future with our kids.


	60. Guess Who's Back

Yep, here's another episode of Our Kinda Life Season 3 and this one is dedicated to my lifelong buddy, Lord Mason, who inspired the character 'Ryan Mason' in this series and to his girlfriend too. Just a little head's up though, I had a bit of trouble with coming up with a perfect ending for this chapter, so please don't beat me up on it, it was the only thing I could up with that wasn't too much like what Matthew and Kaede do. Also, one final note here, for those of you who like to keep track of the timeline in this series, this episode starts things off on Saturday March 10th 2012.

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 60: Guess Who's Back**_

As you might recall, during the time that Naomi and Primula had been at each other's throats, somethings literally, our good pal Ryan Mason and his girlfriend Emily had broken up and she went back to Canada. So now I bet you're wondering, how is Ryan doing at this time? Well I'm happy to tell you that he's doing quite well and he's found that special someone - who we all know.

It all began on the morning of Saturday March 10th 2012, Naomi and Marshall had been hanging out with Naoki. They had been showing her some of their favourite places, but now she was showing them one of her favourite shops.

"This is where I come to get some of my 'Magic: The Gathering' cards," she said to them.

"You play that game?" Naomi asked, sounding quite surprised.

"Yes, I play the game," Naoki nodded, "why? Don't you like it Naomi?"

"No I wouldn't say that, I think it's interesting game and all, but I never thought that you would like the game."

"Well I do, I've been playing that game for quite a long time. I actually have a large collection of cards at home, but it never hurts to come to this card shop and get a few more."

"Well there are definetly alot of cards here, a whole roll of them," said Naomi as she stared at the counter tops.

"Oh no, those aren't all Magic: the Gathering cards," said Naoki, "There's Yu-Gi-Oh! and all sorts of other trading card games."

"Yu-Gi-Oh! huh? Hmm, I wonder if my Big Bro would like this shop. He actually has a huge collection of cards at home and he's always looking to expand his collection a little more."

"I didn't know your Big Brother in law collected those cards," said Marshall, "but then again, there's a lot of things I don't know."

"Well he does and now you know a little bit more," Naomi said with a cheeky smile.

"Oh Naomi," Marshall chuckled and rubbed the top of her head, messing her hair up a little bit. Normally, Naomi doesn't like it when someone touches the top of her head, but when it comes to Marshall, she doesn't mind a bit.

"I'm just going to look at some of the cards in the display cases," Naoki piped up, "you guys can have a look around if you want to."

And that's just what they did. Naomi and Marshall walked around the card shop, that they didn't even know about, and looked at the different games and the cards in the display cases. They saw quite a bit, but there was something that caught Naomi's eye right away and it wasn't any of the games, action figures or cards. It was a woman who had orange hair with red streaks in it. She was looking around, then she went up to the cashier.

"No way, it couldn't be..."

"What?" Marshall asked.

"I thought I saw...oh never mind," Naomi said and went back to looking at what the store had.

The three young teenagers looked around the store one more time, then after Naoki had gotten her cards, they headed out.

By Noon, the three of them finally returned to the house, "welcome to our little home sweet home," said Naomi, "I know it's not as big as your place Naoki, but still..."

"I think it's very nice," she interupted, "and it's kept neat and tidy too."

"Well you can thank my Big Bro in law and my three sisters for that, they're the ones who mostly do the chores around here."

"Well we have to," said another voice from the stairwell, "considering since most of the time, Naomi's up in her room reading manga books and doesn't give us a hand."

The owner of the voice soon came into view, revealing that it was Daisy with some garbage in one of her hands.

"What the hell is that?" Naomi asked.

"Babe, that's no way to speak in front of guests," Marshall said firmly.

"But you...oh never mind. Sorry Naoki."

"That's okay," she said, then she turned to face Daisy, "What is that you got in your hand?"

"Oh just garbage," Daisy answered, "scrap pieces of paper and pieces of the doll I'm working on that can't be fixed. I was just getting rid of them so that way I can have a clean service on my desk."

"If you want my advice Naoki, don't walk upstairs and look into Daisy's room," Naomi whispered.

"Why?" she asked.

"Cause that doll will give you the evil look, it's done that to me several times already."

Of course, Daisy (having good hearing) heard every word that Naomi said, "it has not given you the evil look Naomi, it's just an ordinary doll that's been in between floor joists for years. There's nothing scary about it."

"Whatever," Naomi sniffed, "by the way, have you seen Kaede and Big Bro?"

"Yeah, they're in the kitchen doing some work."

"Great, thanks."

Once they had their winter gear off, they lead Naoki to the kitchen where they found both Kaede and myself. Kaede was at the table drying off some wet dishes while I was washing them.

"Big Bro, Kaede, we would like to introduce you to our friend, Naoki."

"Hello Naoki, it's an honor to finally meet you," Kaede said kindly.

"Little Sis has told us a great deal about you," I added, "especially about how you dealt with Flash. Very nice work there I might add, you could learn a thing or two from Naoki," I was saying this to Naomi, who shot me an angry look.

"You'll have to excuse them," Daisy whispered, "they do this kinda stuff all the time."

"It's okay, I don't mind it at all."

"What's that you got there Naoki?" Kaede asked, noticing the bag in Naoki's hands.

"Oh these are just some of the cards that I got today at my favourite card shop."

"Card shop?" I asked, "what card shop?"

"Nope, I didn't think you knew it," sniggered Naomi. "There's a very big shop that sells all sorts of things, from action figures to board games and of course the cards. There's Magic: the Gathering there and they also have Yu-Gi-Oh! cards too."

"Yu-Gi-Oh! cards? Seriously?"

"Now would I lie?" Naomi asked. I was about to speak, but she interupted me, "don't answer that."

"It's true though," said Marshall, "from what me babe and I could see, there were loads of cards sitting in a few display cases. Many of them, according to what the shop owner said, were ultra rare cards."

"Well that sounds interesting, I think I'll make a stop at that shop one of these days, where is it anyways?"

Naomi told us of the location of the shop and what it was called, then she remembered something else, "oh yeah and while we were at the card shop, I thought I saw Ryan's former girlfriend walking around there."

"Is that who you saw?" Marshall asked.

"Yep," Naomi nodded.

"It couldn't have been Emily," said Kaede, "shortly after you and Rimu got into that huge fight, Ryan and Emily broke up and she went back to Stouffville Ontario Canada."

"Well maybe she's on a little holiday," suggested Naomi.

"She could be," said another voice from behind Naomi. Our little red head jumped in complete shock and screamed too as she did not hear that person walking into the room.

She turned around and saw who the voice belonged to, it was Primula.

"Dammit Big Sis, do you have to sneak up on me?"

"Sorry Little Sis, I thought you heard me come in - and please don't swear in front of company."

"Sorry," she panted and took in deep breaths to help calm herself down.

"As I was saying, she could be on a little holiday," said Primula. "When I spoke with her just before she left on the boat, she said she might make another trip back to the City. But we don't know for sure if it is her, what was her hair color this time?"

"Orange with red streaks."

"Well then it can't be her, she had light brown hair with dark brown streaks last time."

"But it could be her," said Kaede, "just with a different hair style this time."

"Kaede could be right," I said, "remember what Ryan said to us before during that big trip we took in 2010? He said that Emily sometimes changes her hair color to something different, so there's a good chance that it could be her."

"Well we won't know until someone sees that woman again," said Naomi, "and actually talk with her."

"Man, I learn new things every single freaking day," Marshall said quietly.

Throughout most of the afternoon, we all stayed in the house, making sure to give our guest a wonderful visit. Then after she went, Daisy and I headed out to the card shop that we were told about.

"Is there anything in particular you were looking for Daisy?" I asked.

"No nothing really, unless they have bits and pieces I can use to fix up the doll," then a thought came to her, "I sure hope Naomi isn't trying to get rid of that doll. There's only so much I can do to save it."

"I don't think you need to worry about that doll ending up in the trash," I said, "she's got a fear of that thing and I'm sure she would never go into that room alone."

"Yeah plus Kaede, Marshall and Rimu are watching her every move too."

"That's right," I nodded.

We walked into the card shop, only to see one of my old friends standing near one of the counters. It was Ryan Mason and from the looks of it, he had a small pile of 'Magic: the Gathering' cards, "hey Ryan, what are you doing here?" Daisy asked.

"I'm here to get some cards," he answered, "this is the best place to buy single cards."

"Yeah that's what Little Sis was telling us earlier today," I said. I then looked down at the pile of cards, "holy jumping buddy, how many cards are you going to buy."

"All of these cards and a few others in the binders too."

"Geez," I gasped.

"So how have you been doing lately Ryan?" Daisy asked curiously, "we haven't heard much from you in quite a while."

"Yeah sorry about that, but I've just been busy," he said, "I've been working on some computer game designs for a company, which takes up a lot of my time, so that's why I haven't been calling you guys - I am free tomorrow night though, so maybe we could hang out then."

"I'd love to," said Daisy, "but I can't, I got homework to do and I have my own projects at home to take care of."

"Well that's okay Daisy," he then turned to me, "What about you Matthew? Would you like to hang out? You can bring Kaede along with you."

"Well I'll have to check with Kaede first - can you give me a second?"

"Sure buddy," he nodded, "you go ahead, I got some more binders I want to look at."

So while Ryan looked at the cards and Daisy went to look around the store, I got out my cell phone and called Kaede, "hey Kaede, it's me - uh, do we have any plans for tomorrow night?"

"No, I don't think we have any plans, why do you ask?"

"Well we ran into Ryan at the card shop and he's asked if we could come over to his house for a visit tomorrow night. Would that be okay?"

"Yeah I think that would be okay," she answered on the other end of the phone, "it'll be nice to get out of the house again..." she paused and giggled. "Plus it's still going to be a while yet before I give birth."

"Okay then, I'll give Ryan our answer. I'll see you later honey."

"Alright, I'll see you later."

I hung up, then I walked over towards Ryan, "Sure Ryan, we can come over tomorrow night. Just name the time."

"How's five thirty sound?"

"Five thirty sounds good."

"Alright then, I'll have everything ready for you guys - oh and wait till you see the surprise."

"Surprise? What surprise?" I asked.

"Well if I tell you, it wouldn't be much of a surprise would it?"

"No I guess not," I chuckled.

With those plans confirmed, Ryan went back to looking at the cards in the binders while I walked over to the counter where the Yu-Gi-Oh! cards were. After a little bit of looking around, Daisy did get some pieces she needed for the doll and I got some Yu-Gi-Oh! cards for my already big collection, then we headed off for home.

The following next afternoon (Sunday March 11th 2012), Kaede and I drove over to Ryan's house. For the record, this is not our first visit to Ryan's place, we have made two other visits to his house in the past, so we do know the way there. When we arrived, we found that Ryan was placing some salt down on the sidewalk, "watch your step here," he advised, "it's a little slippery, as I had only just found out."

Kaede and I had to walk very slowly along on the sidewalk. For safety reasons, I stayed right behind Kaede, ready to catch her just in case.

"I'll be glad when this damn cold weather disappears and we're back in the warmth of spring," said Ryan.

"Yeah that's something we're all looking forward to," I said in agreement.

We soon reached the house where we got a greeting from a white dog. It barked at us non-stop, "Misty, stop that!" Ryan said firmly to his dog, "that's no way to treat house guests."

Misty the Dog just wouldn't listen, so Ryan had to grab her collar and pull her away from us.

"I'm sorry about that, she always does that to anyone who's visiting us."

"It's okay Ryan, no harm done," said Kaede kindly.

"So, where's this surprise you were telling me about last night?"

"Ryan?! Where are you?" called a voice before he could say a word.

"I'm at the front doorway," he called back, "Matthew and Kaede are here."

We then heard footsteps coming towards the front doorway. Both Kaede and I gasped as the person came into view, "Emily!" we said in unison. And indeed it was Emily, with the same exact hairstyle that Naomi had described yesterday during Naoki's visit.

"Hey guys, it's been a while hasn't it?"

"Yes it has," Kaede nodded, "it's good to see you again."

"And it's good to see you too," she smiled. She then looked down to Kaede's stomach, "how far along are you right now?"

"I'm nine months pregnant right now, so which means I'm going to be giving birth anyday now."

"Oh that's wonderful to hear."

Kaede and I took off our jackets, boots and gloves, then we followed Ryan and Emily to the living room where they had a video game system all set up and had some snacks sitting on the table.

"Make yourselves at home," Ryan said kindly.

"Thank you Ryan," Kaede said kindly. She then looked over to Emily, "so Emily, what brings you back to Tokyo? Are you on Vacation?"

"No I'm not Vacation, I'm actually moving back to the city," she answered.

"You're moving back?"

"That's right Kaede, I'm moving back. I mean, I was able to find another job, but I wasn't really happy there and I really missed Ryan a lot, and you guys too," she added, "so after a few months, I left my job back in Canada, then I moved back here where I met up with Ryan and after a few weeks, we got back together again."

"So that's why you're looking so cheerful Ryan," I said.

"Yeah that's why I'm looking so cheerful," he said with a smile on his face.

"You know Emily, our little sister Naomi thought for sure that she saw you yesterday at the card shop."

"Oh yeah she did," she said. "I was going to go over and say hello to her, but I saw that she was talking with someone and I really didn't want to distrub her, so I just walked on by and went to pay for what I had gotten."

"Well I guess that solves the mystery," I said.

"So, what are you going to do now Emily?"

"Well, I'm thinking of going back to school and learn how to do art projects like sculptures or paintings, but in the meantime, I'm just helping Ryan with his own work."

"Oh okay."

"How is it coming along anyways?" I asked.

"Why not see for yourself?" he suggested. He pulled out his laptop and after turning it back on, he opened up the program with the gaming systerm he had been working on. Both Kaede and I had to admit that it was quite impressive, "now just to let you know, it's not one hundred percent perfect, but it's getting there. Bit by bit, piece by piece and day by day, you know."

"Yeah we know," Kaede and I said in unison. "It's very nice Ryan, keep it up," said Kaede.

"Oh I will," he said.

After that, we just talked about some of the things that had been going on lately, watched some movies together and even played the card games. I was even foolish to take on both Ryan and Emily in a Yu-Gi-Oh! duel, they ended up kicking my butt, not literally of course, "I think you might need some more practice Matthew," suggested Ryan.

"Yeah I guess I do," I chuckled.

When the games were done, we all sat down to a wonderful dinner, made by Ryan and Emily, which was delicous and this time, Kaede said it before me.

"I swear you can read my mind sometimes," I chuckled. Kaede just giggled back.

We hung out with Ryan and Emily for a couple more hours before it was time for us to go, "we had a great time hanging out with you two," Kaede said to them, "and it was really nice to see you again, you especially Emily."

"Thanks Kaede and it feels good to be back."

"Take care out there and give us a call if you ever want to hang out again," said Ryan.

"Sure, we'll do that," I said. We said our goodbyes, then we turned and walked off to the truck.

Later that same night, after cleaning everything up, Ryan and Emily were getting ready to go to bed, "oh my gosh, I have missed those guys," said Emily, "it was good to see them again - hey Ryan."

"Yeah?"

"Can I tell you something?"

"Sure Emily, what is it?"

"Well, just don't tell Matthew this, but I think when it comes to playing card games, he's a little too cocky."

Ryan chuckled when he heard that, "oh that's no secret Emily, we've always known that when it comes to playing the card games, Matthew's always been cocky - heck, he even knows that."

"He does?"

"Oh yeah and that's one of the reasons we always managed to kick his butt."

"Sounds like you guys used to have a great time when you were younger."

"Yes we did," Ryan sighed, "but then we ended betraying Matthew and..."

"Ryan it's okay, that's all in the past now. What's important is that you look to the future and do your best with what you want to do."

"Yeah you're right, thanks for that Emily."

"Always glad to help," she smiled.

A minute later, they came out to the hallway to say good night. They said the words, but they didn't walk away from their spots. Instead, Emily got up on her toes and kissed Ryan on the lips. They kissed for a couple of minutes, then they broke it up for some air, "I'm glad you came back Emily, I really missed you."

"And I missed you too Ryan and I promise that I won't ever leave you again."

"I know you'll keep your promise," he smiled and rubbed the left side of her face softly before giving her another kiss, this time on her forehead. After that, they said their good nights once again and after Ryan had turned off the hallway lights, they went into their rooms to go to sleep. Needless to say, neither one of them was going to have a sleepless night anymore - not while their lovers was in the room next to theirs.


	61. The Competitor

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 61: The C**__**ompetitor**_

The following next evening, I was out at the bowling alley and hanging out with my friends; The Sutton Twins, Patrick, Ryan, Michael, Max and Monty. I had spent the entire day helping Kaede around the house and right around the time I had finished my work, the guys called me and asked if I wanted to hang out with them tonight.

I, of course, checked with Kaede before answering their question. It's important in a marriage to always check with your lover before making any decisions like going out for the night, otherwise you'd just be hiding things from them.

Kaede answered 'yes' and now I was hanging out with my friends while Primula looked after her.

"Strike!" cried Patrick as he knocked down some pins. "I'm on a winning streak tonight, try and beat that Mason!"

"Just watch me," he boasted.

He got up from his seat, picked up a bowling ball and walked up to the edge of the lane. "It's good to see that he's back to his good old happy self again," said Michael, "I hate seein' one of my bros in that kinda state."

"You and me both Michael," I said. "He sure made us worry for a while."

"You can say that again," Michael nodded. All of the sudden, we heard a loud crash coming from down the lane. It was the sound of all the pins that Ryan knocked down. "Damn, he's good."

"Now what was that you were saying earlier Patrick?" Ryan asked.

"Oh shut up," Patrick snapped. "Michael, you're up next!"

"Right, I'm coming," he called and got up from his seat to get a bowling ball. "Taking a famous line from you Matthew, I'm glad things are finally back to normal around here."

"Oh geez, just about everyone I know knows every one of my favourite sayings," I thought to myself. "I think it's about time I get some new material before the kids are born."

"Come on bowling ball, hit them hard!" cried another voice coming from the lane to my left.

I looked over and saw a bowling ball smack into the pins hard, almost shattering them to pieces. "another strike, I'm on top of my game tonight," cried a cheerful voice.

It sounded quite familar. I looked towards the owner of the voice and saw a familar little girl with red hair and two pony tails.

"Little Sis?" I asked.

She looked over to me, still with a smile on her face, "hey Big Bro, come to see me whoop Yukie, Shiori and Naoki's butts tonight?"

"Actually no, I'm hanging out with the guys tonight," I answered. I then looked up to the scoreboard and saw that Naomi had the highest score of anyone there. "Wow, you've been doing good."

"You can say that again, I've been kicking butt three times in a row, almost getting a 300 hundred. If I keep up the strikes, I will get that score."

"Don't get cocky Naomi," Yukie called wisely to her. "There's still two frames left to go."

"Yeah whatever."

"Oh Little Sis," I sighed and shook my head, "you always get too above yourself and you always crash and burn."

"Not this time Big Bro, just you wait and see," she boasted.

"Hey Matt, you're up next!" Michael called next.

"I'm coming!" I called. But before I went up to bowl next, I called out to Naomi, "don't get too cocky Little Sis or you won't get that three hundred."

Somehow she just didn't seem to believe me, it made me wonder if she had heard what I had just said.

Us guys continued playing our game until all ten frames had been played. This time, I ended up in third place, Patrick was in fourth, Michael was second and Ryan was in first place.

"Damn bro, I'd say you're back in your game again," said Michael.

"Yeah I have to admit that I am," he boasted.

"One more and I get the 300," said another voice.

We all looked over to the lane Naomi and the three other girls were playing at. It was Naomi's turn to bowl and she had a high record with Yukie in second, Shiori in third and Naoki in fourth.

Naomi focused, aimed her bowling ball and then fired it down the lane.

The whole bowling alley seemed to go quiet and watched as the lone bowling ball roared towards the pins. Then with an ear-shattering crash, the ball smashed into the pins and knocked all ten of them down.

"Oh yeah!" Naomi cried, "I did it! I got a perfect 300!"

Sirens went off, the screen showed 'perfect 300' and tonnes of streamers and balloons fell from the roof and landed all over the place. "Congratulations little missy," said the manager of the bowling alley, "you have bowled a perfect game and tonight, we're honored to put your name on the board with past champions."

"Oh no," I groaned and shook my head, "now we'll never hear the end of it."

And how right I was going to be. Later that night, Naomi was bragging off about her perfect game in front of everyone in the kitchen while Daisy and I cooked dinner.

"Just look at this plague, it says 'Naomi Fuyou: Perfect 300 player'," she boasted. "Now I'll be just as famous as Big Bro."

"Don't count on it," I muttered.

"Well it's good that you won the game Naomi," said Kaede, "but don't forget, it's not always about winning or losing, but it's how you play the game."

"I know that Kaede, but it feels good to win."

"She's quite full of herself tonight, even more so than usual," Daisy was whispering to me.

"What was that Daisy?" Naomi spun round to face my sister.

"Nothing Naomi, nothing at all," she answered.

"You were lucky that's all," Max piped up, "you wouldn't be able to beat us in a bowling game."

Naomi raised an eyebrow at the twins, "is that a challenge I'm hearing from you two?"

"Maybe," answered Monty.

"How about tomorrow afternoon after school?" suggested Max, "we'll see if you're the best player this city's ever seen."

"Alright, you got yourself a challenge," Naomi said with determination. "Just be ready to look like fools in front of a big crowd."

Daisy and I groaned and rolled our eyes. Kaede whispered to Primula, "this is going to resort in tears, or foul language, whatever comes first." Primula nodded in agreement with what my wife said.

The following next afternoon, Naomi and the twins returned to the bowling alley to play their game, "are you here to have fun again young lady?" asked the manager.

"That and to shut these guys up," she said with determination.

"Yeah right," they both said in unison.

They payed for their game, then they got their shoes and walked off towards their lane. They weren't alone, Daisy was with them as well, mostly to cheer the twins on, but to also film the game with her new phone. It comes with a camera that allows her to film anything she wants to film, like bowling games for example.

"Hey Monty," she called to her boyfriend.

"Yeah Daisy, what's up?"

"While I want you to get Naomi to stop boasting so much, I don't want you to forget to have fun okay?"

"Don't worry Daisy, Max and I are not going to forget that," he smiled, "we're going to have fun..." he paused and looked over his shoulder, "in more ways than one if you what I mean."

"Yeah I know what you mean," Daisy smiled with a sly grin.

"Come on Monty, let's play already!" Naomi called impatiently, "or are you too scared to face a champion like myself?!"

"You wish!" he called back, "just hold your horses Naomi." He then turned back to Daisy, "see you after the game...my angel," he whispered softly into his girlfriend's ear.

He then raced off to join his brother and Naomi on the lane.

"Oh and now he's given me a nickname," Daisy thought happily to herself. "I wonder if this is how Kaede feels when Matt calls her 'honey'."

She quickly snapped out of her thoughts and went ahead to film the game.

After a couple of hours, the two sisters and the twins returned back to the house where Kaede and I were waiting to hear about the game. Right away, we could tell that the twins lost to Naomi as she had a big wide grin across her face, and she was holding two plagues in her hand.

"I must be the best bowler in all of Tokyo!" she boasted proudly.

"Yeah, yeah you won, big whoop," grumbled Max.

"Yeah you don't need to rub it in," added Monty unhappily.

"Oh but I want to rub it in, especially since I won two games with an amazing score of 300," she said proudly, "I got to show my new plagues to Marshall. See you later losers," she made an 'L' with her right hand and placed it on her forehead, then she stuck out her tounge and ran up the stairwell.

"Sore winner!" the twins shouted back at her.

"Oh well, you guys played a great game," Daisy said kindly, "plus you came close to beating her, that's something don't you think?"

"Yeah I guess," said Monty and his twin brother nodded in agreement.

"Well, we got to head off for home and some time with our baby sister," said Max. "Tell Primula I said 'hi' and we'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Sure Max, I'll pass on the message to her."

The twins turned and then they walked out of the house, "she played two games aganist them?" Kaede asked curiously.

"No, just the one," Daisy answered. "Come in the living room and I'll show you."

Kaede and I followed Daisy into the living room where she allowed us to see the game of Naomi aganist the twins. Daisy's footage showed that the twins tried their best to win, with only a few of their bowling balls ending up in the gutter. Naomi on the other end, smacked every single pin down with her bowling ball and afterwords, we saw her cheering for joy when she won her second three hundred game.

She even made the 'L' on her forehead again.

"Now I know why the twins called her a sore winner," I said, "but what about the second game?"

"Just after the last frame of the game, Patrick, Yukie and Shiori and asked if they could play the next game. Well Naomi agreed and so she played aganist all three of them and...well, just take a look at the footage and you'll find out what happened."

Kaede and I looked back to the tiny screen and started watching the second game. Once again, Patrick, his girlfriend and her sister tried their darn best aganist Naomi, but in the end, they didn't even come close to her score. Once again, after the last frame, Naomi cheered and was given her two new plagues.

"I'm so good now," came a voice from the doorway. "They just might make bowling player cards with my picture on them."

"I don't know if there are such things Naomi," said Kaede.

"Oh okay then...well maybe they'll ask me to play in tourtements," she showed an excited smile and started giggling, "oh that would be so cool. To win the big trophey."

"You would need to work with a team Naomi, it's part of the rules of a tourtement."

"Kaede's right," said Daisy, "and you would need to be old enough to join."

Naomi pulled a face. I spoke up next, "working as a team would help you greatly, remember this Little Sis, there is no I in the word 'team'."

"Sorry Big Bro, but you are wrong this time."

"What?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's very true, there is an I in the word 'team', it's in the A. Check it out while I go online and see if I can join a bowling tourtement," she giggled happily, spun around a few times and then ran out of the room.

"Oh gosh, can you imagine what would happen if she did enter a tourtement and she won?" I asked. I groaned just thinking about it, "we would never hear the end of her boasting then."

"Nah I doubt she would win aganist professionals," said Daisy, "with that cocky attitude...in fact..." she paused and a smirk came across her face.

"What are you smirking about Daisy?" Kaede asked.

"I just thought up a way to finally stop her boasting and to finally, as I've heard some people say, bring her down a peg or two."

"Oh yeah, how?" I asked.

"Well, you remember Ruri? Erica's good friend?" she asked.

"Yeah of course we remember her," Kaede and I answered, once again in unison. "Although it's been a long time since we've seen Ruri or at least talked to her," added Kaede.

"Why did you bring her up Daisy?" I asked.

"Well I just remembered Erica once saying that Ruri happens to be a professional bowler and that she's taught some people, mostly the boastful ones, important lessons they would never forget. What I was thinking is, why don't we have Naomi play one game aganist Ruri, maybe we'll finally hear the end of her boasting and she'll get a serious lesson she'll never forget."

"Well it could work Daisy, but the question is, will Ruri be available to play the game? And will Naomi even want to play aganist her?"

"Please, with the way she's acting, I'm sure she'll jump at the chance to play aganist a champion."

"Well I guess that's true," I muttered.

"I could ask her now and if we can arrange for a day when she can bowl aganist Ruri."

That's just what Daisy did. She went upstairs and spoke with Naomi and just as she had said, she was jumping at the chance to bowl aganist a champion...actually I'm serious, she was jumping, "when can you arranage it?" she asked eagerly.

"I'll check with her right now," said Daisy.

She pulled out her cellphone, dailed a number and waited for an answer. She talked with Ruri on the other end of the phone while Naomi waited impatiently. After a while, Daisy looked back over to her, "how's five P.M., tomorrow afternoon, is that good for you Naomi."

"Definetly," she answered with an exciting nod.

"Good," she then went back to speaking with Ruri. "She says five P.M. tomorrow afternoon is good. Okay then, alright thanks alot Ruri. Bye."

"This will be great, I get to face a champion and kick her butt at the same time," Naomi said cheerfully.

She was lost in her own little world. I say this cause she didn't hear Daisy say, "so you say, but you're in for a shock."

The following next day, I had to go into Tech Corner to help out with the show. Al was unfortunately sick and Sakura couldn't do the work alone, so I agreed to come back in and help out with the show. We worked hard and impressed the audiance with some of the demostrations we were doing this week, which was another hobby week just in case you're wondering.

At around four thirty that evening, all six of us (which included the over excited Naomi) got into the truck and drove off to the bowling alley.

"This is going to be great," she smirked, "not only will I get another 300 game, but I'll be beating a champion."

Kaede and I rolled our eyes when we heard that. "Are ya sure you'll win babe?" asked Marshall, "I mean, come on, you haven't even faced off aganist the lass yet."

"I'm quite sure that I'll win, despite who she is."

"Sore winner," Daisy muttered, "all those victories have gone straight to your head."

Daisy was wasting her own breath, cause Naomi heard none of the words what she said.

In no time at all, we had arrived at the bowling alley. Naomi rushed in first and found Ruri the light brown haired girl waiting for her. "Right on time Naomi," she said, "are you ready to bowl tonight and have some fun?"

"You bet I am, just don't get angry if I beat you."

Ruri looked over to Daisy, who was rolling her eyes. She then looked back to Naomi, "don't worry Naomi, I won't get mad," she said.

Naomi quickly got her shoes and ran to the alley while Ruri got herself ready. Ruri was wearing a bowling shirt with her team's name on it, and she had professional bowling shoes and special gloves for her hands.

We weren't the only ones who were going to be watching the game tonight. Yukie, Shiori, Patrick, the twins and even Erica had arrived to see this game.

"Oh God, I just had a thought," said Monty.

"What?" Max asked.

"What if Naomi does beat Ruri?"

"Don't even mention it," he groaned.

"It's a 50/50 shot if she can win or not," I said. "For now, let's just watch and see how they do."

Ruri was kind enough to let Naomi go first. The little red head aimed her bowling ball, positioned herself perfectly and then rolled it down the lane. It rolled along until it knocked down all ten pins.

"Strike!" she cried, "try and beat that Ruri!"

"Here she goes," Daisy groaned. Once again, she was filming the entire game for anyone who wasn't able to come to the bowling alley tonight.

Ruri got up from her seat, held her hand over the fan for a moment, then she grabbed her bowling ball. Naomi just smirked, she had a feeling that Ruri wasn't going to hit every single pin. Ruri walked up to the lane, positioned herself and aimed, then she let it roll. It rolled along down the lane until it smacked into the pins and knocked down...all ten of them.

"Did I forget to mention that she's the best at getting strikes?" Daisy said out loud.

"What?" exclaimed Naomi, who had heard that last remark.

"Oh sorry, did I say that out loud? Sorry Naomi."

Naomi grunted and went up to get her bowling ball, "she might be the best at getting strikes, but it doesn't mean she'll get them like I do all the time." She aimed, positioned herself and let the ball roll down the lane. It hit the pins and they all fell down, "okay Ruri, you wanted a challenge, you got one."

"That's fine with me," she smiled.

The game was exciting with a few close calls. On the fifth frame, it looked as though Ruri's bowling ball would fall into the gutter, but it didn't fall in and knocked down all the pins. One frame after another, the bowling balls continued to go down the lane and knocked down every single pin. It was really anyone's game now.

Then it came down to the tenth frame, "I'm famous for kicking butt on this frame," Naomi said angerily to Ruri, "so don't think you're going to beat me in this round Ruri."

"We'll see Naomi," she said kindly, she didn't look mad in the slightest.

Naomi rolled her ball down the lane and knocked down all the pins. She cheered a bit, then went back to get her bowling ball. She positioned herself, aimed and then rolled the ball down the lane. She looked away, thinking she had won, but she was due to find out that she hadn't.

"Uh babe," Marshall called, "You got a seven-ten split."

"What?!" Naomi exclaimed. She spun round and looked to see that the seven and ten pins were still standing, "but that's impossible, I usually knock them all down."

"So much for the perfect 300!" Max and Monty called cheekily.

"Oh shut up you two!" snapped Naomi, "I can still knock them both down."

She picked her bowling ball, aimed and then let it roll. It rolled down the lane, but didn't hit either pin, it went in between them. Naomi gasped in shock, her perfect 300 winning streak was now over. But when she looked up and saw her score, she smirked, "I still have a chance to win this game, unlike you Ruri."

"This one's going to be tough for Ruri," said Patrick, "Naomi's got a good number, 290. She'll need a miricle to beat that number."

"Oh she'll get it," said Erica with a smile on her face. "She always does."

Ruri got up from her seat, held out her hand over the fan, then grabbed her bowling ball. She let it roll down the lane and it hit the pins hard with an ear-shattering crash. Her second roll was just like Naomi's, leaving only the seven and the ten pins up.

"She'll never get them," Naomi smirked.

Ruri picked up her bowling ball, took aim and then let it roll. It rolled down the lane, on the verge of falling into the gutter on the right side, but it never went in. Instead, it hit the ten pin so hard it went flying and smacked the seven pin off it's spot. Naomi's mouth dropped and her eyes popped wide open, "I...don't...believe...it," she said in disbelieve.

Ruri turned around and walked up towards Naomi, "oh and I suppose you're going to boast about how you won," she sniffed.

"No Naomi, I'm not going to do that," said Ruri. "It's not who I am, I just wanted to say that was a good game, you almost had me quite a bit there."

"Well you're welcome."

"Now listen, if you ever want to become a professional bowler, might I suggest practicing as much as possible and stop boasting okay? Otherwise one of these days, that boastful attitude will come along and bite you in the butt hard."

"In other words, you'll lose," called Max in a cheeky way.

"That's enough, she did her best and that's all she could ever do."

"Yeah, that's true," sighed Naomi. She also thanked Ruri for a great game and promised to follow her instructions more often.

On the way back home, she didn't say very much, except at one point when Naomi said, "She's a really good bowler, if I had to lose to someone, I'm glad it was to her."

"Well I'm not surprised considering she's been doing this ever since, I think it was, 2006 when she started."

Again, Naomi's eyes popped wide open when Daisy said that, but still she didn't very much.

"Okay everyone, we're home," I said. As I pulled up to the house, we noticed a black pick-up truck parked outside of it. It looked just like my original pick-up.

"I wonder who this ploke could be," said Marshall.

"Oh no, it can't be," I groaned, "please say it ain't so."

But it was. A left side door opened and out stepped an older man with grey hair and with a grey moustache just below his nose. It was none other than my father, Mr. Ronald Gagnon.


End file.
